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Updated: Apr 21, 2026

Evidence-based Knowledge Synthesis and Hypothesis Validation: Navigating Biomedical Knowledge Bases via Explainable AI and Agentic Systems
Published on: June 13, 2025
Medicalization and epistemic injustice
1The Medical School, The University of Sheffield, Beech Hill Road, Sheffield, S10 2RX, UK, ajbwardrope1@sheffield.ac.uk.
Medicalization, the process of defining phenomena medically, can be seen as hermeneutical injustice. Critiques of medicalization often fail by overlooking how it can illuminate experiences and by neglecting patient testimony.
Area of Science:
- Medical Sociology
- Philosophy of Medicine
- Social Epistemology
Background:
- Medicalization involves defining phenomena medically, potentially overshadowing non-biomedical aspects.
- Critics argue this process limits understanding and communication of experiences.
- This critique frames medicalization as a form of hermeneutical injustice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze critiques of medicalization through the lens of epistemic injustice.
- To evaluate the validity and limitations of these critiques.
- To explore the implications for understanding medicalized experiences.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual analysis of critiques of medicalization.
- Application of theories of epistemic and hermeneutical injustice.
- Examination of the interplay between medical models and lived experience.
Main Results:
- Critiques of medicalization may fail by neglecting how it can illuminate experiences.
- These critiques can inadvertently commit testimonial injustice by ignoring firsthand accounts.
- Medicalization does not always obscure, but can sometimes clarify, individual experiences.
Conclusions:
- Arguments against medicalization are valuable for highlighting unwarranted epistemic privilege in medicine.
- There is a need for greater epistemic humility from healthcare professionals and researchers.
- Rethinking the impact of medicalization requires acknowledging both its limitations and potential benefits.
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