Explaining cancer: finding order in disorder

by Plutynski, Anya

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Title Statements

Full title :Explaining cancer : finding order in disorder / Anya Plutynski.

Summary

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world. Almost everyone's life is in some way or other affected by cancer. Yet, when faced with a cancer diagnosis, many of us will confront questions we had never before considered: Is cancer one disease, or many? If many, how many exactly? How is cancer classified? What does it mean, exactly, to say that cancer is 'genetic,' or 'familial'? What exactly are the causes of cancer, and how do scientists come to know about them? When do we have good reason to believe that this or that is a risk factor for cancer? These questions are (in part) empirical ones; however, they are also (in part) philosophical. This work takes a close look at these philosophical questions, by examining the conceptual and methodological challenges that arise in cancer research, in disciplines as diverse as cell and molecular biology, epidemiology, clinical medicine, and evolutionary biology.

Edition Statements

Publication Date:2018

Publication Statements

Publisher(s):Oxford University Press
Place of Publication:New York, NY
Language:eng
Publication Date:2018

The Physical Object

Description:vi, 266 pages ; : 25 cm

Edition Identifiers

ISBN:9780199967452, 0199967458
oclc:on1031409680
LC Classification:RC261
Dewey Decimal:616.99/4

Cancer: natural, medical, and social kind -- From disease to risk -- Causation, casual selection, and causal parity: what genes can (and can't) do -- Evidence and environmental epidemiology: a pragmatic approach -- Cancer from an evolutionary perspective -- Explaining cancer.