Jacob Stegenga on Medical Nihilism

EconTalk

Library of Economics and Liberty

Ethics, Philosophy, Economics, Books, Science, Business, Courses, Social Sciences, Society & Culture, Interviews, Education, History

4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2019

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Philosopher and author Jacob Stegenga of the University of Cambridge talks about his book Medical Nihilism with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Stegenga argues that many medical treatments either fail to achieve their intended goals or achieve those goals with many negative side effects. Stegenga argues that the approval process for pharmaceuticals, for example, exaggerates benefits and underestimates costs. He criticizes the FDA approval process for approving too many drugs that are not sufficiently helpful relative to their side effects. Stegenga argues for a more realistic understanding of what medical practice can and cannot achieve.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:08.0	I'm your host, Russ Roberts, of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:12.6	Our website is econtalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find
0:17.6	links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:20.5	We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:24.8	back to 2006.
0:27.0	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:29.0	We'd love to hear from you.
0:31.0	Today is February 26, 2019, and my guest is Jacob Stagenga, University Lecturer in
0:39.9	the Department of History and the Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University in England.
0:44.2	His latest book, which is the subject of today's conversation, is Medical Nealism.
0:50.6	Jacob, welcome to Econ Talk.
0:52.7	Russ, thanks for having me.
0:54.5	I'm delighted to be here.
0:55.8	This is an utterly fascinating book that begins with what seems like an essentially untenable
1:00.8	claim that can't be true, and then relentlessly makes the case for that claim.
1:06.6	That by the end of the book makes you start to wonder if in fact it is true, and I have
1:10.0	to confess as listeners will discover and recognize that I'm sympathetic to some of the arguments
1:14.9	in the book, many of them in fact, but I'm surprised at how far you got me to come along
1:19.4	with you, Jacob.
1:21.4	Let's start with what you mean by this rather daunting term, Medical Nealism.
1:26.4	Sure.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Library of Economics and Liberty, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Library of Economics and Liberty and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.