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279Defining disease beyond conceptual analysis: an analysis of conceptual analysis in philosophy of medicineTheoretical Medicine and Bioethics 34 (4): 309-325. 2013.Conceptual analysis of health and disease is portrayed as consisting in the confrontation of a set of criteria—a “definition”—with a set of cases, called instances of either “health” or “ disease.” Apart from logical counter-arguments, there is no other way to refute an opponent’s definition than by providing counter-cases. As resorting to intensional stipulation is not forbidden, several contenders can therefore be deemed to have succeeded. This implies that conceptual analysis alone is not lik…Read more
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123The temporal dynamic of emotional emergencePhenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 13 (4): 557-578. 2014.Following the neurophenomenological approach, we propose a model of emotional emergence that identifies the experimental structures of time involved in emotional experience and their plausible components in terms of cognition, physiology, and neuroscience. We argue that surprise, as a lived experience, and its physiological correlates of the startle reflex and cardiac defense are the core of the dynamic, and that the heart system sets temporally in motion the dynamic of emotional emergence. Fina…Read more
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113Philosophy in Science: Can philosophers of science permeate through science and produce scientific knowledge?British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. forthcoming.
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104Defining agingBiology and Philosophy 35 (5): 1-30. 2020.Aging is an elusive property of life, and many important questions about aging depend on its definition. This article proposes to draw a definition from the scientific literature on aging. First, a broad review reveals five features commonly used to define aging: structural damage, functional decline, depletion, typical phenotypic changes or their cause, and increasing probability of death. Anything that can be called ‘aging’ must present one of these features. Then, although many conditions are…Read more
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93The visibility of philosophy of science in the sciences, 1980–2018Synthese 199 (3-4): 1-31. 2021.In this paper, we provide a macro level analysis of the visibility of philosophy of science in the sciences over the last four decades. Our quantitative analysis of publications and citations of philosophy of science papers, published in 17 main journals representing the discipline, contributes to the longstanding debate on the influence of philosophy of science on the sciences. It reveals the global structure of relationships that philosophy of science maintains with science, technology, engine…Read more
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84How does a psychiatrist infer from an observed condition to a case of mental disorder?Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 18 (5): 979-983. 2012.The main thesis of this paper is that mental health practitioners can legitimately infer that a patient's given condition is a case of mental disorder without having diagnosed any specific mental disorder. The article shows how this is justifiable by relying either on psychopathological reasoning, on 'intentional' analysis or possibly on other modes of reasoning. In the end, it highlights the clinical and philosophical consequences of the plurality of modes of 'inferences to mental disorder'
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84Latent variables and the network perspectiveBehavioral and Brain Sciences 33 (2-3): 150-1. 2010.We discuss the latent variables construct, particularly in regard to the following: that latent variables are considered as the sole explanatory factor of a disorder; that pragmatic concerns are ignored; and that the relationship of these variables to biological markers is not addressed. Further, we comment on the relationship between bridge symptoms and causality, and discuss the proposal in relationship to other constructs (endophenotypes, connectionist-inspired networks)
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63The prospects of precision psychiatryTheoretical Medicine and Bioethics 42 (5): 193-210. 2021.Since the turn of the twenty-first century, biomedical psychiatry around the globe has embraced the so-called precision medicine paradigm, a model for medical research that uses innovative techniques for data collection and analysis to reevaluate traditional theories of disease. The goal of precision medicine is to improve diagnostics by restratifying the patient population on the basis of a deeper understanding of disease processes. This paper argues that precision is ill-fitting for psychiatry…Read more
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57The Meaning of the Opposition Between the Healthy and the PathologicalMedecine, Health Care and Philosophy 12 (3): 355-362. 2009.If the healthy and the pathological are not merely judgments qualifiers, but real phenomena, it must be possible to define both of them positively, which, in this context, means as factual contraries. On the other hand, only a privative definition, either of the pathological as 'non-healthy', or of the healthy as 'non-pathological', can rationally circumscribe all possible states of an organism. This fluctuation between two meanings of the 'healthy'-'pathological' opposition, factual vs. rationa…Read more
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54On the neurobiological redefinition of psychiatric symptoms: elimination, reduction, or what?Synthese 196 (6): 2117-2133. 2019.Because biologization of psychiatric constructs does not involve derivation of laws, or reduce the number of entities involved, the traditional term of ‘reduction’ should be replaced. This paper describes biologization in terms of redefinition, which involves changing the definition of terms sharing the same extension. Redefinition obtains through triangulation and calibration, that is, respectively, detection of an object from two different spots, and tweaking parameters of detection in order t…Read more
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40Neither from words, nor from visions: understanding p-medicine from innovative treatmentsLato Sensu, Revue de la Société de Philosophie des Sciences 4 (2): 12-23. 2017.Despite its vagueness Personalized, Precision, P4, P5, individualized, stratified medicine—or p-medicine in short—has become an increasingly popular term in biomedical literature. Philosophers have attempted to analyze what these various terms involve and have discussed consequences for medical practices. In this article, I argue that an important question remains unaddressed: what has made this project of p-medicine convincing to so many? My argument is that without real achievements, it would …Read more
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37Affectivité et auto-affection: Réflexions sur le « corps subjectif » chez maine de biran et M. HenryLes Etudes Philosophiques 2 243-267. 2000.M. Henry voit à tort chez Maine de Biran la distinction entre trois figures du corps propre: corps objectif (extérieur et mondain), corps organique (terme résistant de l'effort), et corps subjectif (confondu avec l'ego). Maine de Biran distingue bien trois corps, mais le troisième, loin d'être confondu avec l'ego, est un corps de pure passivité duquel l'ego est absent. Cet état d'affectivité pure étudié par Biran répond à la critique par M. Henry de sa théorie de la passivité, et corrige la théo…Read more
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36Philosophers of biology usually distinguish historical and systemic accounts of functions. In many areas of experimental biology the "systemic" account is often the most relevant. Yet there are problems this account does admittedly not face up to very well. My contention is that, though two minor problems are irredeemably unsolvable for the systemic account of function, the major ones can be solved by assuming that 'function' denotes (directly) a causal role in a model and (indirectly) the corre…Read more
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35Animal extrapolation in preclinical studies: An analysis of the tragic case of TGN1412Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 61 35-45. 2017.According to the received view, the transportation view, animal extrapolation consists in inductive prediction of the outcome of a mechanism in a target, based on an analogical mechanism in a model. Through an analysis of the failure of preclinical studies of TGN1412, an innovative drug, to predict the tragic consequences of its first-in-man trial in 2006, the received view is challenged by a proposed view of animal extrapolation, the chimera view. According to this view, animal extrapolation is…Read more
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27Intimité et secret médical. Interprétation philosophique des rapports entre éthique et droitMédecine et Droit 2007 (84): 73-79. 2007.
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27Is the Evolutionary Component of Wakefield's "Harmful Dysfunction Analysis" stipulative?In Faucher Luc & Forest Denis (eds.), Philosophy of Science, Mit Press. forthcoming.International audience.
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22Alex Broadbent: Philosophy of epidemiology: Palgrave MacMillan, London and New York, 2013, xxii + 203 pp, £60/$95History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 36 (3): 462-463. 2015.
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21A dual decomposition strategy of both microbial and phenotypic components for a better understanding of causal claimsBiology and Philosophy 35 (1): 1. 2020.In our commentary on Lynch et al.’s target paper, we focus on decomposition as a research strategy. We argue that not only the presumptive microbial causes but also their supposed phenotypic effects need to be decomposed relative to each other. Such a dual decomposition strategy ought to improve the way in which causal claims in microbiome research can be made and understood.
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19Introduction à la philosophie des sciences médicalesHermann. 2017.En France, l'épistémologie de la médecine est facilement réduite à l'étude du magistral essai de Canguilhem, Le normal et le pathologique. Toutefois, ce livre publié il y a plus de soixante-dix ans ne reflète plus l'état des sciences médicales contemporaines, ni celui des débats poursuivis par les philosophes des sciences depuis. Le présent livre, premier du genre en langue française, a pour ambition d'introduire le lecteur à la philosophie des sciences médicales. Ses dix chapitres initieront le…Read more
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18Anya Plutynski’s Explaining Cancer: Finding Order in DisorderPhilosophy of Medicine 3 (1). 2022.
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18Remarques sur la métaphore de l'organisme en politique : les principes de la philosophie du droit et les deux sources de la morale et de la religionLes Etudes Philosophiques 59 (4): 479. 2001.Contrairement aux idées reçues, Hegel n’est pas un précurseur de la pensée totalitaire, auquel on pourrait opposer un Bergson républicain et démocrate. Tous deux parlent de la communauté politique comme d’un organisme, doctrine affectionnée du totalitarisme. Ni chez l’un, ni chez l’autre, on ne peut atténuer la portée de l’affirmation en invoquant un usage métaphorique : il faut entendre, chez l’un comme chez l’autre, l’organisme au sens propre mais large. L’organicité du politique, loin de la m…Read more
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17The meaning of the opposition between the healthy and the pathological and its consequencesMedicine, Health Care and Philosophy 12 (3): 355-362. 2009.If the healthy and the pathological are not merely judgments qualifiers, but real phenomena, it must be possible to define both of them positively, which, in this context, means as factual contraries. On the other hand, only a privative definition, either of the pathological as ‘non-healthy’, or of the healthy as ‘non-pathological’, can rationally circumscribe all possible states of an organism. This fluctuation between two meanings of the ‘healthy’–‘pathological’ opposition, factual vs. rationa…Read more
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17Philosophie de la médecine: Volume 2, Santé, maladie, pathologieLibrairie Philosophique J Vrin. 2012.English summary: Based on the famous essay by Georges Canguilhem on what is normal and pathological (originally published in 1943), extensive philosophical literature (mainly Anglo-Saxon) has attempted to define these concepts and analyze their status. The main discussion focuses on the following question: can you describe health and illness as natural phenomena or are they states that are determined by values? French text. French description: Depuis le celebre essai de Georges Canguilhem sur le…Read more
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15A dual decomposition strategy of both microbial and phenotypic components for a better understanding of causal claimsBiology and Philosophy 35 (1): 1. 2020.In our commentary on Lynch et al.’s target paper, we focus on decomposition as a research strategy. We argue that not only the presumptive microbial causes but also their supposed phenotypic effects need to be decomposed relative to each other. Such a dual decomposition strategy ought to improve the way in which causal claims in microbiome research can be made and understood.
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14R. P aul T hompson & R oss E.G. U pshur, Philosophy of Medicine: An Introduction, Oxon: Routledge, 2018, 194 pp (review)History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 41 (2): 18. 2019.
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13A dual decomposition strategy of both microbial and phenotypic components for a better understanding of causal claimsBiology and Philosophy 35 (1): 1. 2020.In our commentary on Lynch et al.’s target paper, we focus on decomposition as a research strategy. We argue that not only the presumptive microbial causes but also their supposed phenotypic effects need to be decomposed relative to each other. Such a dual decomposition strategy ought to improve the way in which causal claims in microbiome research can be made and understood.
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12La désunité de la médecineHermann. 2011.La médecine ne se contente pas de diagnostiquer et de traiter des maladies : elle vise aussi à les expliquer. En cela, elle prend pied de plein droit dans le domaine de la science. En quoi consistent les explications médicales, et qu'est-ce qui les singularise au sein des explications en biologie? La première caractéristique des explications médicales est leur pluralité. La médecine semble en effet réunir sous un même label des explications très diverses, voire hétérogènes, unies seulement par l…Read more
Maël Lemoine
University of Bordeaux
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University of BordeauxProfessor