Epistemology

Rhetoric

Rationalism

Scholarship

Empiricism

Philosophy

Pure mathematics

Mathematics

Political science

Evidence-based medicine

MEDLINE

Linguistics

Field (mathematics)

Sociology

Medicine

Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice

When evidence‐based medicine (EBM) became established, its dominant rhetoric was empiricist, in spite of rationalist elements in its practice. Exploring some of the key statements about EBM down the years, the paper examines the tensions between empiricism and rationalism and argues for a rationalist turn in EBM to help to develop the next generation of scholarship in the field.

The need for a rationalist turn in evidence‐based medicine