Rethinking the history of peptic ulcer disease and its relevance for network epistemology

Abstract

The history of the research on peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is characterized by a premature abandonment of the bacterial hypothesis, which subsequently had its comeback, leading to the discovery of Helicobacter pylori—the major cause of the disease. In this paper we examine the received view on this case, according to which the primary reason for the abandonment of the bacterial hypothesis in the mid-twentieth century was a large-scale study by a prominent gastroenterologist Palmer, which suggested no bacteria could be found in the human stomach. To this end, we employ the method of digital textual analysis and study the literature on the etiology of PUD published in the decade prior to Palmer’s article. Our findings suggest that the bacterial hypothesis had already been abandoned before the publication of Palmer’s paper, which challenges the widely held view that his study played a crucial role in the development of this episode. In view of this result, we argue that the PUD case does not illustrate harmful effects of a high degree of information flow, as it has frequently been claimed in the literature on network epistemology. Moreover, we argue that alternative examples of harmful effects of a high degree of information flow may be hard to find in the history of science.

Current scientific interest in dissociative amnesia: A bibliometric analysis

“…One might point out that there have been similar “disconnects” between non‐scientist communities and the scientific community in other areas of medicine. For example, in the mid‐20th century, both clinicians and laypersons commonly believed that peptic ulcers represented a psychosomatic illness associated with stressful life events, and it was even proposed that there was an “ulcer type personality” (Radomski et al, 2021). In the early 1980s, however, research demonstrated instead that the bacterium Haemophilus pylori was primarily responsible for peptic ulcer disease, earning its discoverers the Nobel prize.…”

Intellectual courage and inquisitive reasons

“…Zollman's discussion has prompted focus on this case in philosophy of science. See, e.g., (Radomski, Šešelja, & Kim 2021;Šešelja & Straßer 2014b).…”

“…As noted, scientific consensus in 1980 was that peptic ulcer disease was caused by abnormally high acid levels, brought on by things like stress. However, this consensus was premature: the evidence at the time did not conclusively rule out that bacterial theory (Radomski et al 2021;Šešelja & Straßer 2014b). In fact, the evidence which had convinced scientists to abandon the theory was based on reasonable but false auxiliary hypotheses.…”

Agent‐based models of scientific interaction

“…In view of the simulations, Zollman hypothesized that the structure of communication among scientists had an impact on the dynamics of the scientific consensus and dissent concerning the cause of the disease. This spurred an investigation into this case which shed doubt on the received historical narrative (Radomski et al., 2021; Šešelja & Straßer, 2014). 18…”