{"id":41749,"date":"2018-03-29T14:28:09","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T13:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=41749"},"modified":"2018-04-06T12:41:46","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T11:41:46","slug":"jeff-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-austin-bradford-hills-viewpoints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2018\/03\/29\/jeff-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-austin-bradford-hills-viewpoints\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Austin Bradford Hill\u2019s viewpoints"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"jeffrey_aronson\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In my last two blogs I have used Austin Bradford Hill\u2019s lecture<\/a><\/span>, \u201cThe Environment and Disease: Association or Causation?\u201d, which he gave in 1965 to the Royal Society of Medicine\u2019s then newly formed Section of Occupational Medicine, as a reason for discussing the words \u201ccriteria<\/a><\/span>\u201d and \u201cguidelines<\/a><\/span>\u201d. Although Hill outlined what he called \u201cnine viewpoints\u201d that he suggested could help in analysing causation in associations between two variables, they have commonly been called criteria. However, only one of his viewpoints is actually a criterion, and I suggested that we might better refer to them as guidelines.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two words \u201cguide\u201d and \u201cview\u201d come from the same IndoEuropean root, WEID, to see. \u201cGuide\u201d comes via the Gothic witan<\/span><\/em>\u00a0followed by consonantal shift of w<\/span><\/em>\u00a0to g<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and t<\/span><\/em>\u00a0to d<\/span><\/em>. \u201cView\u201d comes via the Latin videre<\/span><\/em>, to see. So \u201cguideline\u201d is a good modern substitute for \u201cviewpoint\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as a guideline was originally a line used to guide something, before the word started to be used figuratively, so a viewpoint originally had a literal meaning: \u201cA place or position from which something is viewed, esp. one which offers a particularly extensive or attractive view of the surrounding area, a natural feature within it, etc\u201d (Oxford English Dictionary<\/span><\/em>). The word was a surprisingly late addition to English\u2014the first example given in the OED<\/span><\/em>\u00a0dates from 1839\u2014although it was not long before it began to be used figuratively (\u201cA mental position or attitude from which a subject or question is considered\u201d); the earliest example dates from 1856. The surprise is that the phrase \u201cpoint of view\u201d dates from the start of the 18th<\/span>\u00a0century in the literal sense of \u201cthe position from which something is seen or viewed\u201d, although it was not until the end of the century that it started to be used in the figurative sense of \u201ca mental position or attitude\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hill\u2019s nine viewpoints were:<\/span><\/p>\n