Shattering the Myth of Semmelweis

Philosophy of Science 80 (5):1065-1075 (2013)
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Abstract

The case of Semmelweis has been well known since Hempel. More recently, it has been revived by Peter Lipton, Donald Gillies, Alexander Bird, Alex Broadbent, and Raphael Scholl. While these accounts differ on what exactly the case of Semmelweis shows, they all agree that Semmelweis was an excellent reasoner. This widespread agreement has also given rise to a puzzle: why Semmelweis’s views were rejected for so long. I aim to dissolve both this puzzle and the standard view of Semmelweis by showing that, contrary to prevailing opinion, Semmelweis was not the excellent reasoner he has been assumed to be

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10.1086/673935

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Dana Tulodziecki
Purdue University

Citations of this work

Evidence of effectiveness.Jacob Stegenga - 2022 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 91 (C):288-295.

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References found in this work

Philosophy of Natural Science.Carl G. Hempel - 1967 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 18 (1):70-72.
Eliminative abduction: examples from medicine.Alexander Bird - 2010 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 41 (4):345-352.
Causation and models of disease in epidemiology.Alex Broadbent - 2009 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 40 (4):302-311.
Hempelian and Kuhnian approaches in the philosophy of medicine: The semmelweis case.Donald Gillies - 2005 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 36 (1):159-181.
Causal inference, mechanisms, and the Semmelweis case.Raphael Scholl - 2013 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 44 (1):66-76.

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