Philosophy of medicine

The philosophy of medicine is a branch of philosophy that explores issues in theory, research, and practice within the field of health sciences,^[1] more specifically in topics of epistemology, metaphysics, and medical ethics, which overlaps with bioethics. Philosophy and medicine, both beginning with the ancient Greeks, have had a long history of overlapping ideas. It was not until the nineteenth century that the professionalization of the philosophy of medicine came to be.^[2] In the late twentieth century, debates among philosophers and physicians ensued of whether the philosophy of medicine should be considered a field of its own from either philosophy or medicine.^[3] A consensus has since been reached that it is in fact a distinct discipline with its set of separate problems and questions. In recent years there have been a variety of university courses,^[4][5] journals,^[6][7][8][9] books,^{[10][11][12][13]} textbooks^[14] and conferences dedicated to the philosophy of medicine.