Miasmas, mental models and preventive public health: some philosophical reflections on science in the COVID-19 pandemic (12 October 2021)

Summary

When the history of the COVID-19 pandemic is written, it is likely to show that the mental models held by scientists sometimes facilitated their thinking, thereby leading to lives saved, and at other times constrained their thinking, thereby leading to lives lost. This paper from Trisha Greenhalgh explores some competing mental models of how infectious diseases spread and shows how these models influenced the scientific process and the kinds of facts that were generated, legitimised and used to support policy.