The monster that is medicine

摘要

Having told us how to think about science (The Golem, Cambridge University Press, 1993) and technology (The Golem at Large, Cambridge University Press, 1998), Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch turn their attention to an even softer target: medicine. Readers of the previous two books will be familiar with the structure: a series of case studies, each based on a couple of principal sources, with linking commentary. They will also know that the series takes its title from a creature of Jewish mythology. Golems were powerful man-made beings that would follow orders, but they were a bit thick and did not know their own strength, and so were potentially dangerous. Collins and Pinch have never sought to teach their readers science, technology or medicine — merely how to think about these complex subjects, each of which, they argue, has golem-like characteristics.