 Philosophy of medicine is a field that seeks to explore fundamental issues in theory, research, and practice within the health sciences, particularly metaphysical and epistemological topics. Its historic roots arguably date back to ancient times, to the Hippocratic corpus among other sources, and there have been extended scholarly discussions on key concepts in the philosophy of medicine since at least the 1800s. Debates have occurred in the past over whether there is a distinct field rightly termed “philosophy of medicine” (e.g., Caplan 1992) but as there are now dedicated journals and professional organizations, a relatively well-established canon of scholarly literature, and distinctive questions and problems, it is defensible to claim that philosophy of medicine has now established itself. Although ethics and values are part of many problems addressed within the philosophy of medicine, bioethics is generally considered to be a distinct field, and hence is not explored in this entry (but see the entry on   theory and bioethics).   That being said, philosophy of medicine serves as a foundation for many debates within bioethics, given that it analyzes fundamental components of the practice of medicine that frequently arise in bioethics such as concepts of disease. The philosophy of medicine also has made important contributions to general philosophy of science, and particularly to understandings of explanation, causation, and experimentation as well as debates over applications of scientific knowledge. Finally, the philosophy of medicine has contributed to discussions on methods and goals within both research and practice in the medical and health sciences. This entry focuses primarily on philosophy of medicine in the Western tradition, although there are growing literatures on philosophy of non-Western and alternative medical practices. It emphasizes philosophical literature while utilizing relevant scholarly publications from other disciplinary perspectives.