In the Process of Solution

Abstract

J. Willard Gibbs remarked on the occasion of receiving the Rumsford Medal (1881), "One of the principal objects of theoretical research in any department of knowledge is to find the point of view from which the subject appears in its greatest simplicity." Research on the various aspects of medical decision making during the past 20 years has attempted to find a point of view. I believe a point of view can be defined although development of methods and applications are still in the process of solution. The papers in this issue of The New England Journal of Medicine present a . . .