Unity and multiplicity of the concept of man in a scientific human medicine

Nowadays, hardly anyone would oppose the demand for more rationally based m edicine - the catchword here being "evidence-based medicine"(EBM). Anyone t rying to comply with this demand will be faced with the question of what is meant by "evidence." It would be false to think that rationality is guaran teed by applying the Galilean method of exact induction. Exact induction aims at objective propositions free of subjectivity. Such p ropositions are regarded as generally valid,or "true". They lead us toward the transcendent platonic "idea", which is by definition beyond our reach. Exact induction enables us to derive representations of a transcendent idea by means of experimental research. These representations may or may not be useful in actuality, for example in medical therapeutic strategies. Strict ly speaking, reproducibility, which is generally taken as proof of a given hypothesis, is not equivalent to identity. Identity implies, among other th ings, simultaneity.