Brendan Clarke

About My Research

I began my PhD at the UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies in 2007 under the supervision of Professor Donald Gillies and Dr Michela Massimi. My research project involves studying causation in medicine. Despite the reliance of medicine on causal arguments for both practice (for example, diagnosis depends on finding the cause(s) of symptoms) and research (for instance, finding the cause(s) of disease) the nature of causal processes is poorly understood. As part of this project, I am studying the development of causal arguments from the general medical literature. The diseases that I am studying are two early examples of viral oncogenesis – Burkitt's lymphoma (caused by the Epstein Barr virus) and cervical cancer (caused by the Human Papilloma virus). They are interesting, from the perspective of the philosophy of science at least, as their discovery led to significant changes in the nature of causal arguments used in medicine.

As a counterpoint to the study of causation in the general medical literature, I am also investigating more specialist work on causation arising from medical epidemiology. In many ways these writings are a parallel literature on causation to that of philosophy. What is interesting, to me at least, is that despite many similarity of ideas about cause, the medical and philosophical literatures rarely intersect. The third strand of my research is therefore based in the philosophical literature on causation, and in particular to attempt to develop a broadly 'philosophical' analysis of medical causation.

As a distraction from the main body of the PhD, I have other interests in the philosophy of medicine, including the role of explanations in therapeutics, the impact (and some of the problems) of evidence-based medicine, and the relationship between clinical medicine and its research underpinnings.

Conference Presentations

Causation and Melanoma Classification
Philosophy of Medicine Roundtable
EIPE - 19th-20th October 2009
Abstract [160kb PDF]
Paper [460kb PDF]

Mechanisms, Causation and the Russo-Williamson Thesis
Mechanisms and Causality in the Sciences
University of Kent, Canterbury - 9th-11th September 2009
Abstract [85kb PDF]
Slides [981 kb PDF]

Can Mechanism plus Statistical Relevance add up to "Good Enough" Causation?
British Society for the Philosophy of Science Annual Conference 2009
University of East Anglia - 13th-14th July 2009
Abstract [82kb PDF]
Slides [198kb PDF]

Inverting the Pyramid: A Reassessment of the Roles of Experiment in Evidence-Based Medicine
SPSP 2009
University of Minnesota - 18th-20th June 2009
Abstract [79kb PDF]
Slides [448 kb PDF]

Agency and Manipulability Causation: What's the Difference in Practice?
Leeds-Durham-Exeter-UCL HPS Workshop "Theory and Practice"
Durham University- 1st June 2009
Slides [399kb PDF]

Cervical Cancer Risk Factors 1966-2006: Causation or Correlation?
&HPS2
University of Notre Dame - 12th-15th March 2009
Abstract [120kb PDF]

Causation in Medicine
Conference on Conceptual Revolutions: From Cognitive Sciences to Medicine
Universidad de A Coruña - 5th-6th March 2009
Slides [404kb PDF]

Causation and Mechanism
UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies Work in Progress Seminars
UCL - 26th February 2009
Slides [573kb PDF]

Between Philosophy of Science and Medicine: Mechanism, Reduction and Homeostasis
UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies PhD Student Open Day
UCL - 26th November 2008
Slides [149kb PDF]

A Parallel Literature: Causation in Medicine.
Causality and Probability in the Sciences (CAPITS) Conference 2008
University of Kent, Canterbury - September 2008
Abstract [42kb PDF]
Slides [287kb PDF]

McArdle's Disease; or, Causation without Statistics?
Workshop presentation for "The Interplay of Statistics and Research into Mechanisms in Establishing Causal Claims in Medicine"
University of Kent, Canterbury - 23rd July 2008
Slides [435kb PDF]

Causation and Medicine: Postulates and Pluralism?
British Society for the Philosophy of Science Annual Conference 2008
University of St. Andrews - 11th July 2008
Abstract [42kb PDF]
Slides [203kb PDF]

The Role of Plausibility in Biomedical Causation.
STS Annual Research Day 2008
UCL - 20 May 2008
Abstract [36kb PDF]
Slides [566kb PDF]

What is a Cause?
UCL/NIMR Student Seminar Day 2008 - Wed 7th May 2008
Abstract [22kb PDF]
Slides [921kb PDF]