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Reductionism in medicine: some thoughts on medical education from the clinical front line
Author(s) -
Welsby Philip D.,
ed .
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of evaluation in clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.737
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1365-2753
pISSN - 1356-1294
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2753.1999.00188.x
Subject(s) - reductionism , front line , balance (ability) , complexity science , epistemology , medicine , psychology , management science , philosophy , neuroscience , engineering , political science , law
In clinical medicine, a balance needs to be struck between reductionism (the view that a system can be fully understood in terms of its isolated parts) and holistic complexity appreciation (the view that the whole may not be discernible from knowledge of its parts). Reductionism, which currently is associated with renaming of old well‐established ideas, minimizes the reality of complexity in patients with several diagnoses. Holistic complexity appreciation on the other hand may encourage unscientific assessments. A balance between the two needs to be maintained if the needs of students and patients are to coincide.