History and Philosophy of Medicine

The History and Philosophy of Medicine Group studies how the boundaries of medical knowledge have transformed over time.

Our projects use historical and philosophical methods to explain the co-evolution of ideas about science and medicine. Moving beyond simplistic stories of linear scientific progress in medicine, we explore the complex ways in which the borders between the two have been drawn and redrawn over time. We investigate different ways of knowing, different ways of living with uncertainty, and different groups of actors in making medical knowledge, from regulatory agencies to patient collectives.

Our research and teaching places the seemingly self-evident characteristics of contemporary medicine – its modernity, its universality, its validity – within a broader and systematic reflection on the historical contingency and epistemic plurality of medical knowledge. In doing so, we seek to open new spaces for interdisciplinary dialogues about the genealogy and future of knowledge in medicine.

Teaching

The History and Philosophy of Medicine Group forms a bridge between the Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology, the Medical School OWL, and the Studies of Science. We teach in the core medical curriculum and in the interdisciplinary Medical Humanities profile.

In the core medical curriculum, our working group is involved in the modules "Introduction to Medical Studies", "Scientific Thinking and Action", "Brain, Nerves and Psyche", "Beginning of Life" and "End of Life".

Medical students have the option to specialise in the interdisciplinary profile Medical Humanities, which we organize together with the subjects of Medical Ethics and Health and Medical Law. The aim of this specialisation is to strengthen students' reflexive skills and to teach them methods from the humanities that enable them to critically understand the historical, philosophical, legal and ethical dimensions of the medical profession.

The working group is part of the Theory-Oriented-Object-Laboratory (TOOL) initiative. In selected courses from our teaching across the core curriculum and in the interdisciplinary Medical Humanities specialisation, we teach hands-on courses with material artefacts from medical history. We are thankful to our ongoing cooperations partner, the Bielefeld Hospital Museum, who have generously provided these items on permanent loan.

Supervision

We also supervise research work across various parts of the medical degree. In the module Scientific Thinking and Action we supervise research work in the subject areas of the history and philosophy of science of medicine (module 5-II-MEDW, beginning of 2nd stage of studies, 7th semester). We supervise Bachelor’s theses for those students who complete the Medical Humanities specialization and go on to take Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences (B. Sc.) (for more on this pathway, see brief information).

In addition, we supervise subject-relevant doctoral projects in medicine. In the subjects of History and Philosophy, we supervise Bachelor's and Master's theses as well as doctoral projects.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you are interested in supervision of a thesis by members of the research group.

Colloquia

• Boundaries of Medical Knowledge Colloquium (Tuesdays 14:15-15:45 pm)
• PhilLiSci Colloquium of Marie I. Kaiser, Alkistis Elliott-Graves and Lara Keuck (Wednesdays 2-4 pm)
• We host some sessions at the I2SoS Colloquium (Tuesdays 4-6 pm)

Events of the Research Group

06.03.2026: MED METHODS - Experimental Research and Teaching Methods in the Medical Humanities and the Philosophy of Medicine
Organised by Michele Luchetti and Lara Keuck

12.03.2026: The Art of Science and the Science of Art
Organised by Alfred Freeborn (University Bielefeld), Elizabeth Hughes (MPIWG) and Robert Meunier (ICI Berlin)

Past events

26.6.2025: Trajectories of Epistemic Injustice in Philosophy of Medicine – A Workshop with Miranda Fricker
Organised by Lara Keuck, Nele Röttger and Hanna Lucia Worliczek

24.6.-26.6.2025: Master Class on Epistemic Injustice with Miranda Fricker
Co-organised by Lara Keuck and Christian Nimtz

07.11.2024: Introducing TOOL: Theory Oriented Object Laboratory Mini-Workshop, Thursday, November 7, 14.15-15.45, A2-107

Organised by Lisa Regazzoni and Lara Keuck

What can we learn about theories, especially theories of history and theories of medical knowledge, when we study objects? TOOL, the Theory Oriented Object Laboratory (room A2-107), is a new venue and a collaborative project that addresses this question from different historiographical perspectives and through a variety of material objects and collections. We cordially invite all interested parties to attend our opening workshop and learn more about TOOL and how to participate in the project and engage with theories through objects

30.9.-2.10.2024: Workshop "Philosophical Engagement with Biology of Medicine" including the 5th PhilInBioMed Network Meeting, organised by Lara Keuck, Marie I. Kaiser, Alkistis Elliott-Graves, Fridolin Gross and Thomas Pradeu, ZiF Bielefeld: More information (ZiF), More information (Philinbiomed)

13.06.2024: "Fascism in the Minds": A reconceptualisation of disability in a post-euthanist society.

Whether in the debate on inclusion or prenatal diagnostics, the controversy over society's treatment of people with disabilities and the "right" lessons to be learnt from the experiences of Nazi eugenics and the "euthanasia" murders is not coming to rest. The presentation explores the question of how, when and by whom a radically new understanding of disability - especially mental disability - was developed in post-war West Germany and what headwinds the various actors had to contend with. Much has been written about coming to terms with the past; less has been written about the change in practice. It was not until the 1970s-1980s that an "anti-post-fascist" generation was able to bring to life a new pedagogy for the disabled, including school integration experiments on the one hand and a de-hospitalisation movement on the other - the latter in the name of the 50,000 people with intellectual disabilities who were either housed in outdated large institutions or remained "misplaced" in psychiatric departments. Historian Dagmar Herzog will talk about the secular-political and theological-philosophical arguments used by the activists - and how the cripple movement ultimately made the cause of people with intellectual disabilities its own - on 13 June 2013.

Dagmar Herzog is Professor of History at the Graduate Centre of the City University of New York. She has published widely on sexual and gender history in modernity, Holocaust studies and the history of religion, including Sexuality in Europe: A Twentieth-Century History (Cambridge, 2011); Lust und Vulundbarkeit (Wallstein, 2018); Die Politisierung der Lust (Siedler, 2005; Psychosozial 2021); Cold War Freud: Psychoanalyse in einem Zeitalter der Katastrophen (Cambridge, 2017; Suhrkamp, 2023). She is currently researching the theology and politics of disability in Germany, 1870-2020. Announcement (pdf)

28.11.2023: Interdisciplinary panel discussion. Changeability and effectiveness of medical diagnoses. More

17.10.2023: Colloquium Gender guest professor Prof Dr Londa Schiebinger. "From the Mind Has No Sex? to Gendered Innovations" More information, announcement (pdf)