 What makes patients and their bodies special? Some philosophers of biomedicine have attempted to make headway in this question by provocatively asking what it means for biomedical sciences to be ‘chauvinist’ and whether this is proper. Biomedical discussions are in large part defined by what they exclude from discussion. Curiously, there are two sides to the coin of biological chauvinism: one that directly supports the biomedical framework and one that challenges it. Both help shed light on the relationship between biology and medicine.