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Precision medicine and diseases as natural kinds: An epistemological dilemma

Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen1, Donald E Stanley2

  • 1Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia.

Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice
|June 1, 2022
PubMed
Abstract

Insights

Precision medicine (PM) advances disease understanding but may falter with natural kind diseases. Future interventions require improved design to address PM

Area of Science:

  • Medical Epistemology
  • Philosophy of Medicine
  • Precision Medicine

Background:

  • Precision medicine (PM) revolutionized disease definition and understanding.
  • However, its therapeutic efficacy may be limited when diseases are classified as natural kinds.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the potential adverse consequences of PM treatments that lack generalizability.
  • To explore the epistemological challenges posed by natural kind diseases within PM.

Main Methods:

  • Conceptual analysis of precision medicine principles.
  • Examination of the epistemology of clinical reasoning.
  • Case studies illustrating conflicts between natural kind diseases and PM epistemology.

Main Results:

  • Diseases conceptualized as natural kinds present epistemological challenges to precision medicine.
  • The generalizability of PM-driven treatments may be compromised in such cases.

Conclusions:

  • Future research should clarify the standing of PM concerning natural kind diseases.
  • Improved intervention design is needed to accommodate the epistemological limitations of PM.
Keywords:
epistemologyevolutioninductive reasoningnatural kindsprecision medicine

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