Medical Science Versus Medical Technology

Until the 1940s, the relative advantages of allopathic compared to empiric medicine in patient treatment were not clear cut. The cell theory and the success of the pathological–clinical correlations advanced allopathic medicine; however, translation to superior medical treatments at the time did not vouchsafe allopathic medicine. It is tempting to look at the success of allopathic medicine as evidence of the fundamental soundness of the allopathic approach. Much of the history of medicine to date would suggest otherwise. Many medical therapies resulted from serendipity, “shot gunning” (trying everything without appeal to principles), or existing technologies looking for a problem. Experimentalism, the modus operandi of science, may be as much technical as it is science. Evidence-based medicine, as in randomized clinical trials, is more technical as tests of efficacy need not invoke causal mechanisms. Medicine and medical science, laid bare of its technological advances, may require viewing in a different light.