Philosophy of Evidence-based Medicine

Data

Official data in SubjectManager for the following academic year: 2026-2027

Topic

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has brought about one of the most important methodological and perspectival changes in medicine in the last few decades. Although treatment has always been based on evidence, what we consider sufficient, necessary, or appropriate evidence is no longer self-evident. In EBM, there are several hierarchies and orders of evidence, and the safety, effectiveness, and even scientificity of individual procedures and therapies depend on the nature of the evidence supporting them and their place in the hierarchy. During the course, we will ask and discuss more general, philosophical questions such as: what is the nature of evidence and justification, and based on this, what does evidence-based medicine itself mean; what hierarchies of evidence exist and how the types of evidence at each level function and relate to each other; what is the role of expert opinion and consensus in EBM; and what challenges and criticisms EBM must face.

Lectures

Practices

Seminars

• 1. Administration, introduction, structure and goal of the course - Tuboly Ádám Tamás
• 2. Truth and justification: Semmelweis and childbed fever - Tuboly Ádám Tamás
• 3. Medical rationalism and empiricism - Tuboly Ádám Tamás
• 4. History and motication of EBM - Tuboly Ádám Tamás
• 5. Meaning and types of evidence-hierarchies - Tuboly Ádám Tamás
• 6. The role of observation and intuition - Tuboly Ádám Tamás
• 7. Types of medical expertise - Tuboly Ádám Tamás
• 8. Philosophy of randomized-controlled trials - Tuboly Ádám Tamás
• 9. EBM and complementary medicine - Tuboly Ádám Tamás
• 10. EBM and alternative medicine - Tuboly Ádám Tamás
• 11. The integration of old and new medical paradigms - Tuboly Ádám Tamás
• 12. Medical nihilism and gentle medicine - Tuboly Ádám Tamás

Reading material

Obligatory literature

Jeremy Horwick (2011). The Philosophy of Evidence-Based Medicine. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, BMJ Books.

Literature developed by the Department

.

Notes

Slides of the lectures will be uploaded after each class.

Recommended literature

Scott R. Sehon és Donald E. Stanley (2003). „A philosophical analysis of the evidence-based medicine debate,” BMC Health Services Research 3: 14.

John Worrall (2002). „What Evidence in Evidence-Based Medicine?” Philosophy of Science 69 (3): 316–330.

Fahad Al-Ghimlas (2013). „The Philosophy of evidence-based clinical practice: Is evidence enough?” Anals of Thoracic Medicine 8 (3): 131-132.

Mark R. Tonelli (1998). „The Philosophical Limits of Evidence-Based Medicine”, Academic Medicine 73: 1234–1240.

Sarah Wieten (2018). „Expertise in evidence-based medicine: a tale of three models.” Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 13: 2.

Conditions for acceptance of the semester

Absence is allowed once maximum, active class presence is required.

Mid-term exams

-

Making up for missed classes

By individual appointment.

Exam topics/questions

-

Examiners

• Tuboly Ádám Tamás

Instructor / tutor of practices and seminars

• Tuboly Ádám Tamás