Argomentazioni Analogiche e Processi di Categorizzazione nella Diagnosi Nosologica

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to provide a philosophical-cognitive explanation of nosological diagnosis by linking the classical philosophical themes of scientific reasoning (such as induction, deduction, abduction, analogy) to cognitive aspects of common sense reasoning (such as categorization, prototypes, argumentation). In philosophy of medicine, various theories of diagnosis have been proposed to analyze and explain diagnostic reasoning; one of these is nosological diagnosis: a particular type of atheoretical diagnosis based on similarity. In this paper, we show how nosological diagnosis can be considered as a scientific process composed of both inductive processes of categorization and argumentation by analogy; the categorization processes involved can be explained using two of the theories of concepts proposed in cognitive science: the theory of prototypes and the theory of exemplars; while argumentation uses both symmetrical and anti-symmetrical analogies. Finally, we present a model of nosological diagnosis that binds these previous analyses into a coherent framework; in this model, nosological diagnosis based on the recognition of a typical syndrome is explained in terms of prototype theory and anti-symmetrical analogical argumentation; while nosological diagnosis based on previous clinical case studies is explained by the theory of exemplars and the usual symmetrical analogical argumentation.

Keywords

• Diagnosis
• Categorization
• Analogy
• Induction
• Nosology