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- Medical Epistemology or Personal Epistemological Beliefs?Show More
In his article(1) Dr Thomas explores theories on which our work as physicians is based on. Such mental exercise offers us a great example of metacognition. I read with particular interest since it is most likely one of few publications in this subject. It seems that even when physicians use every day “theories” they are not fully aware of them.
Like any other modern technology, medicine uses scientific knowledge...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Continuing the debateShow More
Thank you Elizabeth Bayliss, Dan Munday, Richard Schmitt and Anton Kunzel for taking the trouble to submit a response about my paper on the theory of knowledge. I mostly agree with everything you say, but I would also like to clarify a few points.
Dan hit the nail on the head when he said that I am applying three theories which are ‘mutually incompatible’. I think of them as different universes of meaning. They...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Researching a complex whole through mixed methodsShow More
Dr. Thomas provides a useful and explanatory framework to describe a process of care many primary care physicians have been using intuitively for years. (It may be safe to say that it is partly the inclination to think in these terms that causes many physicians to select a primary care specialty in the first place.) As Dr. Thomas points out, the combination of the three described ‘ways of knowing’ lend themselves well to...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Critical realism as a metatheoryShow More
Paul Thomas' reflections form a useful review of the complexities involved in health care and the need for a broad theoretical approach to aid practice.
However, I am concerned that he may be applying three theories which are mutually incompatible. Further from my reading of critical realism, I would question his definition of the term. I would in fact go further and suggest that all he is arguing for, in terms...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Does philosophy make you a better practitioner?Show More
Dr. Taylor claims that knowing about positivism, critical theory and constructivism makes him a better practitioner. He is the best judge of that and I do not want to dispute his understanding of his own history.
But having been a practitioner of philosophy for 50 years I want to suggest some reasons for being sceptical of any general recommendation that many or all family physicians improve their practice by s...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Reflections on Dr. Thomas' treatiseShow More
This is an interesting, artful approach to reflective practice, and appropriately draws in three major traditions of inquiry and shows how they inform practice at its best. My own journey of learning about these traditions has created a slightly different understanding of the distinctions between critical science and constructivism. The author seems to suggest that critical science is primarily about surfacing hidden a...
Competing Interests: None declared.