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Principles of reasoning in historical epidemiology
Author(s) -
Tulodziecki Dana
Publication year - 2012
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 - 10.1111/j.1365-2753.2012.01902.x
Subject(s) - epistemology , public health , health care , sociology , engineering ethics , management science , medicine , political science , law , nursing , philosophy , economics , engineering
The case of J ohn S now has long been important to epidemiologists and public health officials. However, despite the fact that there have been many discussions about the various aspects of S now's case, there has been virtually no discussion about what guided S now's reasoning in his coming to believe his various conclusions about cholera. Here, I want to take up this question in some detail and show that there are a number of specific principles of reasoning that played a crucial role for S now. Moreover, these principles were epistemologically important to S now, a fact about which S now is explicit in many places. An analysis of S now's case suggests that, because of the epistemic role such principles of reasoning can play, health care practitioners ought to understand their practices to be theoretically informed in these ways, and not just data driven.