First, we are not in the position to elaborate/communicate/argue .. out of exact knowledge but from limited knowledge bases which vary in degree of certainty! Scientist or not!
In science we platform our thinking/working/… on paradigms (preferably introduced ny Thomas Kuhn) and using Karl Poppers falsification and three world paradigm we can express difference between science and real world as
- Falsifikation is a hallmark of science while validation is real world strategy, you do not falsify individuals, which means you have to make decisions based on limited knowledge and – in medicine/psychology/psychiatry – very complex biopsychosocial-cultural processes where individuals vary in a varying way between and also in some respects within over situations and time. This requires respect and cooperation (see e.g. http://biopsychosocialmedicine.com/projects/rd-international-projects-2/placebo-rd/the-cancer-patient-as-an-educated-resource-an-coworker-in-own-rehab/) between patients and clinicians.
- About Poppers world one, two and three
- World one is our physical material world,
- World two is individuals subjective “maps of their territory” (not the way Popper express it!), which means no one is expressing the “fact” (that is, 100% knowledge, where some can be quite close at specific levels. e.g. hypertension concerns high blood pressure, but the reasons are complex, not well understood/identified/ .. but a biopsychosocial-cultural toolbox tailored in cooperation between well informed (which is not always the case) clinician and by health care systems reasonably well educated patients, is mostly a constructive way – where many small steps have possibilities to obtain large advantages!
- World three is existing collective knowledge more or (mostly) less well collected, which we try to express in different theories/paradigm “maps” as well as also in subgroups and in individuals interpretation of the collective knowledge expressed within the paradigmatic map individual are active in.
- The above needs to be respected, which more and more seems to me be forgotten favoring besserwisser self-assertion also in science and clinical context. Some do not realize it and some exploit – some are kind, humbled caring clinicians who want to do good things through convince/assure/persuade while the patient is standing passively by not communicated.
- More on different paradigm …
- What is biopsychosocial medicine?
- About Vygotsky and Kelly