TY - JOUR T1 - Medicine as an essentially contested concept JF - Journal of Medical Ethics JO - J Med Ethics SP - 261 LP - 262 DO - 10.1136/jme.29.4.261 VL - 29 IS - 4 AU - C McKnight Y1 - 2003/08/01 UR - http://jme.bmj.com/content/29/4/261.abstract N2 - W B Gallie’s notion of essentially contested concepts remains of philosophical interest. I argue that medicine is one such concept and look at the consequences of this as regards the inappropriateness of looking for definitions and necessary and sufficient conditions to settle debates about what medicine is and is not. ER -