The patient

pp. 109-272

in: Kazem Sadegh-Zadeh, Handbook of analytic philosophy of medicine, Berlin, Springer, 2012

Abstract

Medicine is concerned with the treatment of sick people, the promotion and protection of health, and the prevention of maladies and human suffering. This wide-ranging task is accomplished through medical practice and medical research, though no sharp boundary between them can be drawn. For the purposes of our discussion in the present Part II, we shall focus on medical practice . The term "practice" derives from the Greek word πραξις (praxis) that means "doing ", "acting ", and "action ". Thus, by the term "medical praxiology " we understand the theory of medical practice , i.e., the philosophy, methodology, and logic of medical doing and acting (Sadegh-Zadeh, 1981d, 183) .