Analysis of the Scope of Action in General Medicine and Its Empirical Control

Abstract

One expects an independent scientific field to be able to describe its methods which should be founded on a specific theoretical approach. If general medicine tries to meet these requirements, its position is made more difficult by the fact that it uses knowledge and methods of the natural sciences for diagnosis and therapy, but that its practice is mainly shaped by experience, i.e., practical knowledge. We have invariably looked in vain for criteria of empirical significance when dealing with the interplay of descriptive and normative facts, i.e., on the one hand, relations which are relevant to the problem and difficult to define in a uniform manner, and, on the other hand, data which should be collected in an objective way [1].

Translated by Jennifer Hartog