Heuristic reevaluation of the bacterial hypothesis of peptic ulcer disease in the 1950s
- Author
- Dunja Seselja (UGent) and Christian Strasser (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- Throughout the first half of the twentieth century the research on peptic ulcer disease (PUD) focused on two rivaling hypothesis: the "acidity" and the "bacterial" one. According to the received view, the latter was dismissed during the 1950s only to be revived with Warren's and Marshall's discovery of Helicobacter pylori in the 1980s. In this paper we investigate why the bacterial hypothesis was largely abandoned in the 1950s, and whether there were good epistemic reasons for its dismissal. Of special interest for our research question is Palmer's 1954 large-scale study, which challenged the bacterial hypothesis with serious counter-evidence, and which by many scholars is considered as the shifting point in the research on PUD. However, we show that: (1) The perceived refutatory impact of Palmer's study was disproportionate to its methodological rigor. This undermines its perceived status as a crucial experiment against the bacterial hypothesis. (2) In view of this and other considerations we argue that the bacterial hypothesis was worthy of pursuit in the 1950s.
- Keywords
- PUD, Peptic ulcer disease, Bacterial hypothesis, Crucial experiment, Pursuit worthiness, Heuristic appraisal, HELICOBACTER-PYLORI, GASTRIC GLANDS, MACACUS-RHESUS, VAGOTOMY, HISTORY, DOGS, EPIDEMIOLOGY, SPIRILLA, BARRIER, FUTURE
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-5651831
- MLA
- Seselja, Dunja, and Christian Strasser. “Heuristic Reevaluation of the Bacterial Hypothesis of Peptic Ulcer Disease in the 1950s.” ACTA BIOTHEORETICA, vol. 62, no. 4, 2014, pp. 429–54, doi:10.1007/s10441-014-9219-7.
- APA
- Seselja, D., & Strasser, C. (2014). Heuristic reevaluation of the bacterial hypothesis of peptic ulcer disease in the 1950s. ACTA BIOTHEORETICA, 62(4), 429–454. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10441-014-9219-7
- Chicago author-date
- Seselja, Dunja, and Christian Strasser. 2014. “Heuristic Reevaluation of the Bacterial Hypothesis of Peptic Ulcer Disease in the 1950s.” ACTA BIOTHEORETICA 62 (4): 429–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10441-014-9219-7.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Seselja, Dunja, and Christian Strasser. 2014. “Heuristic Reevaluation of the Bacterial Hypothesis of Peptic Ulcer Disease in the 1950s.” ACTA BIOTHEORETICA 62 (4): 429–454. doi:10.1007/s10441-014-9219-7.
- Vancouver
- 1.Seselja D, Strasser C. Heuristic reevaluation of the bacterial hypothesis of peptic ulcer disease in the 1950s. ACTA BIOTHEORETICA. 2014;62(4):429–54.
- IEEE
- [1]D. Seselja and C. Strasser, “Heuristic reevaluation of the bacterial hypothesis of peptic ulcer disease in the 1950s,” ACTA BIOTHEORETICA, vol. 62, no. 4, pp. 429–454, 2014.
@article{5651831,
abstract = {{Throughout the first half of the twentieth century the research on peptic ulcer disease (PUD) focused on two rivaling hypothesis: the "acidity" and the "bacterial" one. According to the received view, the latter was dismissed during the 1950s only to be revived with Warren's and Marshall's discovery of Helicobacter pylori in the 1980s. In this paper we investigate why the bacterial hypothesis was largely abandoned in the 1950s, and whether there were good epistemic reasons for its dismissal. Of special interest for our research question is Palmer's 1954 large-scale study, which challenged the bacterial hypothesis with serious counter-evidence, and which by many scholars is considered as the shifting point in the research on PUD. However, we show that: (1) The perceived refutatory impact of Palmer's study was disproportionate to its methodological rigor. This undermines its perceived status as a crucial experiment against the bacterial hypothesis. (2) In view of this and other considerations we argue that the bacterial hypothesis was worthy of pursuit in the 1950s.}},
author = {{Seselja, Dunja and Strasser, Christian}},
issn = {{0001-5342}},
journal = {{ACTA BIOTHEORETICA}},
keywords = {{PUD,Peptic ulcer disease,Bacterial hypothesis,Crucial experiment,Pursuit worthiness,Heuristic appraisal,HELICOBACTER-PYLORI,GASTRIC GLANDS,MACACUS-RHESUS,VAGOTOMY,HISTORY,DOGS,EPIDEMIOLOGY,SPIRILLA,BARRIER,FUTURE}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{4}},
pages = {{429--454}},
title = {{Heuristic reevaluation of the bacterial hypothesis of peptic ulcer disease in the 1950s}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1007/s10441-014-9219-7}},
volume = {{62}},
year = {{2014}},
}
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