Quantitative Methods in Biological and Medical Sciences: A Historical Essay - Hardcover

Lancaster, H. O.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0387942793 ISBN 13: 9780387942797

Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York Inc., 1994

Synopsis

Overview This book is a philosophical reflection (using mainly Hegel, in addition to 1 Adam Smith, Kant, Marx and Catholic Social Thought) about the soc- political dimension of economics. In it I both agree and disagree with the slogan that "the least government is the best government. " I agree with the slogan, in particular as it applies to the economic domain. Adam Smith taught us that rational and self-interested individuals, left by themselves, create a more efficient and reliable economic system than one in which the government has a heavy role as was the case in his time with the merc- tile system (Smith, 14, 651). Ludwig von Mises demonstrated the same idea for the communist command economy (Hayek 1935, 87-130). I d- agree with the above mentioned slogan if it is interpreted as suggesting that we can best forget about the role of the government for a good functioning economy. Instead, I will argue that the government has an important fu- tion in creating the proper regulations and the wise institutional arran- ments which will allow the economy to flourish in a more efficient, fair and humane way. This book is interdisciplinary in nature. It is a philosophical and ethical reflection on economics. Hence, I make use of philosophical ideas, often but not exclusively those of Hegel. I reflect philosophically on economic concepts.

About this title

Product Description

My original intention was to write a history of medical statistics, used in its prewar sense, expanding the writings on the subject by Major Greenwood, from which I formed many of my ideas in the early days immediately after the Second World War. In later years, I decided that the scope of his works was narrower than what I think is appropriate now, for he was writing in an era before the acceptance and use of the Fisherian methods and he was probably not aware of the mathematization of many parts of biological theory. Further, the boundary between the medical and biological sciences has largely disappeared. Many texts have now been written on branches of the theory and practice inspired by R. A. Fisher (see §4. 13). I discuss the history of the use of quantitative methods in the biological sciences, defined after the style of Peller (1967) as that branch of science that uses a quantitative approach to, or quantitative logical reasoning on, or biology. The mathematical tech­ any issue having to do with medicine niques are various and not classified here. Within the book I use "biological sciences" to include medicine but use the longer phrase in its title to avoid misunderstandings as to content. Moreover, most of the experimental work carried out in medical research laboratories is performed on animals other than man.

Review

"..an intriguing, interesting, and innovative....readers with a historical bent...will treasure this volume as a veritable goldmine as they absorb its seemingly limitless nuggets...it is terse, compact, and (of necessity, selectively) comprehensive; the reference list alone is worth the price." Jnl of the Am Statistical Assoc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0387942793
• ISBN 13: 9780387942797
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 297