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How ridiculous the world has come when North Americans are questioning whether people who actually hold doctoral degrees should be called Dr. anyone without a PhD who is called “Dr” has completed a professional doctorate amd is using the title because it is being used as an honorific title. The history of the term “Doctor” goes back to the 1300s and was awarded to those who were the most respected teachers (look up the Latin meaning).
Competing Interests: None declared.References
- Roger Collier. Who is entitled to the title of “doctor”?. CMAJ 2016;188:E305-E305.
- Page navigation anchor for RE: Who is Entitled to be called 'Doctor'?RE: Who is Entitled to be called 'Doctor'?
Whom Should We Really Call A “Doctor?”
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These days many health professionals use the title “doctor.” Indeed, the Canadian Press Stylebook now decrees that the title of doctor is reserved only for physicians. Physicians, surgeons, dentists, chiropodists, university professors, and in some countries pharmacists…etc. describe themselves as “doctors.” This begs the question: are they? In order to answer this question, one has to examine that title from both linguistic and historical standpoints.
The word doctor is derived from the Latin verb “docere,” meaning to teach, or a scholar. Only by special arrangement do any of the preceding professionals teach. Only university professors with a doctoral degree normally teach at a university. Historically speaking, the title “Doctor” was invented in the middle ages to describe eminent scholars. These doctorates date back to the 1300s. Such people were accorded a lot of respect and prestige.
The Ph.D., or Doctor of Philosophy, is the highest graduate degree awarded by our universities.
Health professionals receive undergraduate degrees in medicine. It is a professional degree, and not really a doctorate. The M.D. degree is not a part of Graduate faculties at North American universities.
It has now become fashionable to award so-called “Doctor of Law” degrees to undergraduate law school graduates in the form of a Juris Doctor or J.D. degree, including at the University of Windsor. These too are merely...Competing Interests: None declared.