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International Journal of Epidemiology 2007 36(6):1173-1180; doi:10.1093/ije/dym228
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2007; all rights reserved.

Commentary: Ways of asking and ways of living: reflections on the 50th anniversary of Morris’ ever-useful Uses of Epidemiology

Nancy Krieger

Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Kresge 717, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. E-mail: nkrieger@hsph.harvard.edu

Keywords Epidemiologic theory, social epidemiology, population health

Accepted 7 September 2007

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

‘Epidemiology is the only way of asking some questions in medicine, one way of asking others (and no way at all to ask many).’

            Jeremy M. Morris

        Uses of Epidemiology (1957, p. 96)1

To be of use. To Jeremy Morris (b. 1910), writing a half-century ago in his now classic text, Uses of Epidemiology,1 the promise—and responsibility—of epidemiology was clear: to generate scientific knowledge about the ‘presence, nature and distribution of health and disease among the population’ (p. 96),1 ultimately in order to ‘abolish the clinical picture’(p. 98).1 Committed to improving the ‘health of the community’ (p. 96),1Morris argued that ‘one of the most urgent social needs of the day’ that epidemiology could address was ‘identifying harmful ways of living’ and ‘rules of healthy living’ (p. 98).1 Uniquely equipping epidemiology to carry out this task was, in his view, its population and historical perspective and . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   Epidemiology is an historical science
 

   Epidemiology is a population science
 

   Epidemiology is a causally pragmatic and contextual science
 

   Conclusion: the importance of ways of asking for knowledge for healthy ways of living
 

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