Explaining cancer : finding order in disorder / Anya Plutynski.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Plutynski, Anya, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cancer.

Tumors--Classification.

Tumors.

Neoplasms--classification.

Medical Subjects:

Neoplasms--classification.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations.

Other Title:

Finding order in disorder

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2018.

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.

Contents:

Cover; Half title; Explaining Cancer; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; I.1. Organization of the Book; I.2. Autobiographical Note; 1. Cancer: Natural, Medical, and Social Kind; 1.1. Introduction; 1.2. Cancer Classification in Practice; 1.3. Natural Kinds and Disease Kinds; 1.4. Is Cancer a Homeostatic Property Cluster Kind? A Potted History and Discussion; 1.5. The End of Diseases?; 1.6. Conclusion; 2. From Disease to Risk; 2.1. Introduction; 2.2. Concerning Definition; 2.3. Naturalism: Disease as Dysfunction; 2.4. Problematizing Function

2.5. Objections to the Naturalist's View; 2.6. The Eliminativist View; 2.7. Conclusion: From Disease to Risk; 3. Causation, Causal Selection, and Causal Parity: What Genes Can (and Can't) Do; 3.1. Introduction: Genes as Causes; 3.2. Putting Concepts of Causation in Their Proper Place; 3.3. The Mechanistic Research Program in Cancer; 3.4. Causal Selection, Causal Parity, and Genetic Disease; 3.5. Conclusion; 4. Evidence and Environmental Epidemiology: A Pragmatic Approach; 4.1. Introduction; 4.2. Evidence in Epidemiology: An Overview; 4.3. Tobacco; 4.4. Ionizing Radiation: The Downwinders

4.5. Summary: Evidence and Causation in Epidemiology; 5. Cancer from an Evolutionary Perspective; 5.1. Evolutionary Thinking about Disease: A Taxonomy; 5.2. Cancer Evolving; 5.3. Evolution, Modeling, and Hypothetical Explanation; 6. Explaining Cancer; 6.1. Introduction; 6.2. Puzzle 1: Why Does Cancer Incidence Increase as We Age? The Rise of the Multistage Theory and the Path to Oncogenes; 6.3. Puzzle 2: Why Don't We Get Cancer More Often?; 6.4. Concluding Discussion; Conclusion; Appendix: The Basic Biology of Cancer; Bibliography; Author Index; Subject Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2018.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on July 9, 2018).

ISBN:

0-19-090458-5

0-19-087847-9