| Health, Disease, and Illness: Concepts in Medicine Contributor(s): Caplan, Arthur L. (Editor), McCartney, James J. (Editor), Sisti, Dominic A. (Editor) |
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ISBN: 1589010140 ISBN-13: 9781589010147 Publisher: Georgetown University Press OUR PRICE: $44.50 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: June 2004 Annotation: In the 1850s, "Drapetomania" was the medical term for a disease found among black slaves in the United States. The main symptom was a strange desire to run away from their masters. In earlier centuries gout was understood as a metabolic disease of the affluent, so much so that it became a badge of uppercrust honor -- and a medical excuse to avoid hard work. Today, is there such a thing as mental illness, or is mental illness just a myth? Is Alzheimer's really a disease? What is menopause -- a biological or a social construction?Historically one can see that health, disease, and illness are concepts that have been ever fluid. Modern science, sociology, philosophy, even society -- among other factors -- constantly have these issues under microscopes, learning more, defining and redefining ever more exactly. Yet often that scrutiny, instead of leading toward hard answers, only leads to more questions. Health, Disease, and Illness brings together a sterling list of classic and contemporary thinkers to examine the history, state, and future of ever-changing "concepts" in medicine. Divided into four parts -- Historical Discussions; Characterizing Health, Disease, and Illness; Clinical Applications of Health and Disease; and Normalcy, Genetic Disease, and Enhancement: The Future of the Concepts of Health and Disease -- the reader can see the evolutionary arc of medical concepts from the Greek physician Galen of Pergamum (ca. 150 ce) who proposed that "the best doctor is also a philosopher," to contemporary discussions of the genome and morality. The editors have recognized a crucial need for a deeper integration of medicine and philosophy with each other, particularly in an age of dynamicallychanging medical science -- and what it means, medically, philosophically, to be human. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Medical | History - Medical | Ethics |
| Dewey: 610.1 |
| LCCN: 2003019797 |
| Physical Information: 0.95" H x 6.98" W x 9.92" (1.40 lbs) 311 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Drapetomania was a little-known disease found among black slaves in the United States in the 1850s. The main symptom, according to medical opinion? The desire to run away from slave masters. In earlier centuries gout was understood as a metabolic disease of the affluent, so much so that it became a badge of upper-crust honor--and a medical excuse to avoid hard work. Today, is there such a thing as mental illness, or is mental illness just a myth? Is Alzheimer's really a disease? What is menopause? A biological phenomenon, or a social construction? In this successor volume to the 1981 Concepts of Health and Disease the three editors, Caplan, McCartney, and Sisti, explore how society understands and determines health, disease, and illness. The 28 classic essays are divided into four parts: Historical Discussions; Characterizing Health, Disease, and Illness; Clinical Applications of Health and Disease; and Normalcy, Genetic Disease, and Enhancement: The Future of the Concepts of Health and Disease. Drawing on a wide variety of sources--from Galen (150 CE) to Maimonedes (1150) to contemporary bioethicists and philosophers--the editors demonstrate how concepts of health and disease evolve from generation to generation--and remain, despite claims of scientific objectivity, culture and value laden. Foreword by Edmund Pellegrino, M.D., author of numerous books on philosophy and medicine. |