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Phronesis, Clinical Reasoning, and Pellegrino’s Philosophy of Medicine

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The Influence of Edmund D. Pellegrino’s Philosophy of Medicine

Abstract

In terms of Aristotle’s intellectual virtues, the process of clinical reasoning and the discipline of clinical medicine are often construed as techne (art), as episteme (science), or as an amalgam or composite of techne and episteme. Although dimensions of process and discipline are appropriately described in these terms, I argue that phronesis (practical reasoning) provides the most compelling paradigm, particularly of the rationality of the physician’s knowing and doing in the clinical encounter with the patient. I anchor this argument, moreover, in Pellegrino’s philosophy of medicine as a healing relationship, oriented to the end of a right and good healing action for the individual patient.

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Notes

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University Medical Center, 120 Building D, 4000 Reservoir Road, N.W., Washington, D.C., USA

    F. Daniel Davis

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  1. F. Daniel Davis
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA

    David C. Thomasma

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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Davis, F.D. (1997). Phronesis, Clinical Reasoning, and Pellegrino’s Philosophy of Medicine. In: Thomasma, D.C. (eds) The Influence of Edmund D. Pellegrino’s Philosophy of Medicine. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3364-9_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3364-9_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4796-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-3364-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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