ABSTRACT
Three domains of philosophy are principally embraced by philosophy of science: epistemology (i.e. how knowledge is acquired and what it is to "know" something), metaphysics (i.e. the role and nature of cause and effect, and space and time) and logic (i.e. the nature of scientific reasoning and the logical structure of models and theories). The fourth domain of analytic philosophy is ethics. During the last 50 years or so, increasing attention has been paid to ethical issues in medicine with an attendant increase in articles and books on ethical aspects of medicine. This enterprise is known as bioethics. Contemporary medicine encompasses three different kinds of activities, although they are interconnected in complicated ways. Clinical practice – the activities of diagnosing, treating and preventing disease, as well as promoting health – is one kind. Understanding immunological features of dogs will have relevance to understanding immunological features of humans and vice versa, for example.
