Philosophy and Medicine

This focus is the result of a selection of the papers presented at the colloquium “Philosophy and Medicine”, which took place in Turin in January 2016. The purpose of the workshop, organized by the University of Turin and the Research Group LabOnt, was to discuss and explore some of the major views about the relationship between philosophy and medicine, and the ethical aspects of clinical practice. This volume collects the contributions of Cristiana Amoretti, Maurizio Balistreri, Francesca Ervas, Elisabetta Lalumera, Marcello Montibeller, Lucia Morra, Maria Grazia Rossi, Pietro Salis, and Vera Tripodi, who were speakers at the conference. The papers are unified by a number of cross-cutting themes and take their position within the different areas of the current theoretical- moral debate within the field termed “philosophy of medicine”.Recently, there has been increased debate in philosophy over the nature of the concepts of health and disease from the perspective of the philosophy, as well as the character of medical explanation and medical practises. This on-going discussion raises the issues of what is meant by “disease” or “mental health”, how to philosophically define the notion of “care” and “disability”, what constitutes a medical theory, which are the philosophical aspects of “normality” and “pathology” in medicine. This focus aims to provide to the reader with an overview of issues related to illness by taking into the account the latest theoretical developments (with particular attention to the ontological, methodological, epistemological, and ethical questions) that animate this philosophical forum and by highlighting especially the most problematic aspects.