Abstract
In requesting that I prepare a concluding essay for New Knowledge in the Biomedical Sciences, the editors assigned me the title “The End of the Era of Optimism!” indicating, or so I presumed, that the papers being presented required tempering with the heat of realism. Having reviewed the manuscripts making up this volume, I have concluded that their authors are well aware of the crises facing medicine today, and are little in need of having their attention drawn to the limitations of a too optimistic view of their disciplines. I have therefore taken as my tasks an analysis of their reasons for believing that the current history of the acquisition and use of biomedical knowledge has reached a period that might be described as pessimistic, and, in a limited way, a presentation of some modest reasons for maintaining that a modicum of optimism is nevertheless in order.
Optimism, n. Doctrine … that the actual world is the best of all possible worlds; view that good must ultimately prevail; sanguine disposition; inclination to take bright view [5].
The optimism proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true [3].
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© 1982 D. Reidel Publishing Company
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Kessel, R. (1982). The Uses of Biomedical Knowledge: The End of the Era of Optimism?. In: Bondeson, W.B., Tristram Engelhardt, H., Spicker, S.F., White, J.M. (eds) New Knowledge in the Biomedical Sciences. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7723-5_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7723-5_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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