Abstract
The article asserts that a scientific discipline is defined by both its object of research or knowledge (domain) and its specific or adequate method. An appropriate definition should fullfil other necessary conditions implicit in certain fundamental rules of definition, e.g., a definition should not be too narrow or too broad. It should also respect well established uses of language, in which the concept to be defined may already have a given meaning.
In Scandinavia there are three words used for the the Science of Health Care. »Vårdvetenskap« e.g., is used both in Sweden and Finland. In Finland it is use to convey the view that care is essential to Man, and a holistic concept af Man/Health. So demarcated, Vårdvetenskapen complements Medicine which ontologically reduces Man to biochemistry and sickness to desease. To fullfil this function the Science of health Care should be humanistic and interdisciplinary, and not purely empirico-positivistic like Medicine.
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