Although their inclusion in medical curricula internationally is increasing, the medical humanities still face challenges to their role and place in the curriculum. Justifications supporting the inclusion of humanities content, methods and perspectives in medical curricula have generally been proposed along instrumental, intrinsic and critical lines. However, recent literature in the field has turned to ‘ways of knowing’ as representing an alternative, essentially epistemological, perspective on the matter. This involves the claim that the medical humanities align with and promote characteristic ways of understanding and practising medicine, which are not adequately represented in traditional disciplinary frameworks.