• Ethics of belief and medical education
  • Nader Arbabi,1,*
    1. Azad university Qom Medical Branch


  • Introduction: The necessity to pay attention to the ethics of belief was first raised by William Kingdon Clifford, the 19th-century philosopher and mathematician. In his famous article in 1877, he indicated that a scholar is morally responsible for the beliefs he/she adopts and should accept them only if there is compelling evidence. The scholar should know that if the acceptance is not backed by persuasive evidence, it is immoral, particularly if the beliefs entail practical consequences and the consequences can cause problems and pains for others.
  • Methods: This is not a classic experimental study and its method is based on didactive reasoning and logical methods.
  • Results: In order to be able to provide their services in promoting the individual and collective public health, particularly those physicians who have direct contact with patients, physicians and other public healthcare-related staff must have sufficient knowledge (both quantitatively and qualitatively). Knowledge and episteme are the scholar's (whether physician or non-physician) very justified true beliefs. At the same time, such beliefs are directly related to people's health and illness, that is individuals' pains and suffering نتایج:In order to be able to provide their services in promoting the individual and collective public health, particularly those physicians who have direct contact with patients, physicians and other public healthcare-related staff must have sufficient knowledge (both quantitatively and qualitatively). Knowledge and episteme are the scholar's (whether physician or non-physician) very justified true beliefs. At the same time, such beliefs are directly related to people's health and illness, that is individuals' pains and suffering As a result, according to Clifford, not only the students and physicians must embrace some beliefs that are backed scientifically but since they are ethically and accountably responsible for the individuals, they must pay precise attention to accepting scientific subjects to have sufficient support.
  • Conclusion: In order to be able to better distinguish true scientific propositions from false and invalid ones, the physicians and students must have knowledge of critical thinking. Thus, it is their moral duty to get a grasp on critical thinking and critical thinking can improve their teaching and learning processes. In other words, the commitment to the ethics of belief both improves students' moral performance and their educational performance. ethics of belief,medical education,critical thinking
  • Keywords: ethics of belief,medical education,critical thinking