ABSTRACT
Much of the success that has been achieved in modern medicine has come from the elaboration of a particular way of thinking about disease. This way of thinking, which Robert Koch referred to as the etiological standpoint, is expressed in a series of theories of disease that constitute a classic research programme exactly as envisioned by Imre Lakatos. This chapter considers whether this progress is likely to continue. Koch used the postulates as a central part of the research strategy that he called the etiological standpoint. Like his friend Edwin Klebs, Koch was more interested in conducting research than in describing his own methods, so his account of the etiological standpoint, like Klebs' discussion of the Grundversuche leaves much to be desired. In a recent paper, Alex Broadbent describes what looks like a crisis in contemporary epidemiology: epidemiologists appear to have lost confidence in the monocausal model.
