In her dissertation, Yael Friedman delves into the concept of medical holism, asking how extensively one can and should understand medicine. Friedman provides a new understanding of medical holism and shows that, while the philosophical discourse on medical holism is centered on an anti-reductionist understanding of holism, it can also be understood as an anti-exclusionary stance, both in socio-political and epistemic contexts.
In the collection of articles, Friedman focuses on the epistemic context of holism in medicine as a form of pluralism, and she identifies and explores two forms of pluralism: pluralism in and with science. Friedman explores what kind of knowledge is relevant for medicine to be successful and which perspectives should be considered so that the knowledge they include will become accessible.
As an integral part of her research, Friedman addresses issues of epistemic injustice in the medical context and discusses central concepts such as «patient», «recovery», and «diagnosis». Through these concepts and the discussion of case studies like One Health Medicine, Personalized Medicine, COVID-19, and health-tracking wearable devices, Friedman describes the medical project as a collective project and its success in diminishing patients’ suffering as being dependent on the inclusion of different bodies of knowledge, the consideration of various levels of analysis, and the collaboration between multiple actors both within and outside of the biomedical community.
Yael Friedman successfully defended her dissertation on February 2, 2023.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: "Should medicine be considered a science?"
Evaluation committee
- Professor Lara Keuck, Bielefeld University (first opponent)
- Associate Professor Sean Valles, Michigan State University (second opponent)
- Associate Professor Karen Crowther, University of Oslo (committee administrator)
Chair of the defence
- Professor Tor Egil Førland
Supervisors
- Associate Professor Gry Oftedal, University of Oslo
- Prof. Dr. med. Cornelius Borck, University of Lübeck