Why has philosophy been eliminated from the pre-medical education?
It seems to me that philosophy is paramount in truly understanding the human body. Hippocrates of Cos advocated a complete medical education of empirical science and theological studies. I may not agree with injecting theology in medicine, but it certainly seems philosophy is quite consequential in the development and progression of the health sciences. Why then has the pre-medical education omitted such philosophy courses as the philosophy of ethics and the philosophy of science?
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February 11th, 2010 at 5:05 am
I minored in chemistry and in philosophy. Years later I re-read my philosophy notes and scanned two of the books I kept, and they were almost incomprehensible. It seems to me that in most philosophy courses I took, they crammed a week of material into a whole semester. In others it was just the opposite. One Thomistic refuted Kant and Hume in one lecture, Hegel, Engels and Nietzsche in the next. Gimme a break!
Personally, I did like natural philosophy and I think ethics very important for physicians, although some give lip service to its principles.
But to address your question, philosophy is very subjective, and what one professor professes may vary significantly from another. Universities under a religious aegis may have slants that support their credos and refute others. That is the opposite of what is now called science.