The Prototype Resemblance Theory of Disease
University of Münster, Münster, Germany
Address correspondence to: Kazem Sadegh-Zadeh, Am Steinkamp 20, Tecklenburg 49545, Germany. E-mail: ksz-2{at}medizintheorie.de.
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Abstract |
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In a previous paper the concept of disease was fuzzy-logically analyzed and a sketch was given of a prototype resemblance theory of disease (Sadegh-Zadeh (2000). J. Med. Philos., 25:605–38). This theory is outlined in the present paper. It demonstrates what it means to say that the concept of disease is a nonclassical one and, therefore, not amenable to traditional methods of inquiry. The theory undertakes a reconstruction of disease as a category that in contradistinction to traditional views is not based on a set of common features of its members, that is individual diseases, but on a few best examples of the category, called its prototypes, and a similarity relationship such that a human condition is considered a disease if it resembles a prototype. It enables new approaches to resolving many of the stubborn problems associated with the concept of disease.
Keywords: classical concepts, concept of disease, family resemblance, nonclassical concepts, prototype resemblance, the prototype resemblance theory of disease
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