ALS: S. Green

Sara Green, University of Copenhagen

Philosophy of Science as Visioneering Assessment: The Case of Precision Medicine

ABSTRACT: Biomedical science is not only driven by theoretical achievements and technological developments, but also by visions for the future of medicine and society in general. By “visioneering”, I refer to the communication of visions by influential proponents within a given scientific field. While the visions are formulated in response to societal problems, visioneering is performative in the sense that promises for the future also shape political expectations and priorities. Since visioneering considers imageries of a not-yet realized future, the topic may be considered outside the scope of traditional philosophy of science analysis. Yet, insofar as such visions rest on identifiable epistemic and normative assumptions, philosophy of science has much to contribute to a critical assessment of science-based promises for the future. I highlight the method of visioneering assessment through an analysis of the epistemic and normative assumptions underlying current visions of precision medicine. Precision medicine capitalizes on technologies for genome sequencing and the increasing availability of digitalized health data. Precision medicine is expected to improve health outcomes and lower health care costs through predictions of disease development and treatment response for individual patients. I uncover the assumptions underlying the vision of precision and examine these in relation to existing evidence for the benefit and challenges of the proposed individualized strategies.

Due to COVID travel limitations, this Lecture will be held online on Zoom.  Register here: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zJLKwI1FR-2H4VBGVgobuQ