UNDERDETERMINATION

When trying to assess the implications of recent deep shifts in the ph ilosophy of science for the broader arena of medicine, the theme that most readily comes to mind is underdetermination. In scientific resear ch one always hopes for determination: that the world should determine the observations we make of it; that evidence should determine the th eories we adopt; that the practice of science should determine results independent of the sort of society in which that practice takes place . In this essay, doubts cast on each of these ideas by recent work in philosophy of science will be discussed and the consequences for philo sophy of medicine will be indicated.