Abstract
This chapter is a conceptual analysis of the theoretical notion of disease, in which I ask: ‘what is a pathological condition?’ The focus of this chapter is by far the most frequently cited ‘naturalist’ conception of disease/pathological condition: that proposed and developed by Boorse. I go on to show that by replacing the biostatistical conception of natural function, with Karen Neanders etiological account, one can espouse a conception of a pathological condition immune to all the BST’s problems.
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© 2016 Benjamin Smart
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Smart, B. (2016). What is a Pathological Condition?. In: Concepts and Causes in the Philosophy of Disease. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137552921_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137552921_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-71621-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55292-1
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