Evidence of mechanism in the evaluation of streptomycin and thalidomide.

This paper considers what evidence is needed to establish the effectiveness and safety of a drug therapy. The claim that A cures D is a particular case of a causal claim in medicine. So the paper begins with a general analysis of the evidence for causal claims in medicine.

The evidence that evidence-based medicine omits.

According to current hierarchies of evidence for EBM, evidence of correlation (e.g., from RCTs) is always more important than evidence of mechanisms when evaluating and establishing causal claims.

Hempelian and Kuhnian approaches in the philosophy of medicine: the Semmelweis case.

Semmelweis's investigations of puerperal fever are some of the most interesting in the history of medicine. This paper considers analysis of the Semmelweis case. It argues that this analysis is inadequate and needs to be supplemented by some Kuhnian ideas.