Knowledge, authority and identity: a prolegomenon to an epistemology of the clinic.

Disputes about theory in bioethics almost invariably revolve around different understandings of morality or practical reasoning; I here suggest that the field would do well to become more explicitly contentious about knowledge, and start the task of putting together a clinical epistemology. By way of providing some motivation for such a discussion, I consider two cases of resistance to shifts in clinical practice that are, by and large, not ethically controversial, highlighting how different conceptions of epistemic authority may contribute to clinicians' unwillingness to adopt these changes, and sketching out some initial suggestions for epistemic analysis of clinical practice.