Document Type
Article
Original Publication Date
2012
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine
Volume
7
DOI of Original Publication
10.1186/1747-5341-7-4
Date of Submission
August 2014
Abstract
We compare astronomers' removal of Pluto from the listing of planets and psychiatrists' removal of homosexuality from the listing of mental disorders. Although the political maneuverings that emerged in both controversies are less than scientifically ideal, we argue that competition for "scientific authority" among competing groups is a normal part of scientific progress. In both cases, a complicated relationship between abstract constructs and evidence made the classification problem thorny.
Rights
© 2012 Zachar and Kendler; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Is Part Of
VCU Psychiatry Publications
Comments
Originally published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-5341-7-4