The Logic of Clinical Judgment: Bayesian and Other Approaches

Abstract

Not many years ago it would have seemed impractical, if not impossible, to have physicians and philosophers engaged in dialogue about the logic and nature of clinical judgment. The philosophers would have been unwilling or unprepared to think about matters that on the surface seemed far removed from classical philosophical problems. Physicians on their part would have been wary of entering into the labyrinth of methodological issues dealing with the relation between judgment and evidence. Now it seems wholly natural to have such an interaction and to have a conference that focuses on clinical judgment, with physicians and philosophers doing their best to interact and to understand each other’s problems and methods.