The meaning of illness: A phenomenological approach to the patient-physician relationship
Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 12 (3):219-240 (1987)
| Abstract | This essay argues that philosophical phenomenology can provide important insights into the patient-physician relationship. In particular, it is noted that the physician and patient encounter the experience of illness from within the context of different "worlds", each "world" providing a horizon of meaning. Such phenomenological notions as focusing, habits of mind, finite provinces of meaning, and relevance are shown to be central to the way these "worlds" are constituted. An eidetic interpretation of illness is proposed. Such an interpretation discloses certain essential characteristics that pertain to the experience of illness, per se , regardless of its manifestation in terms of a particular disease state. It is suggested that, if a shared world of meaning is to be constituted between physician and patient, the eidetic characteristics of illness must be recognized by the physician. Keywords: phenomenology, patient-physician relationship, illness-as-lived, habits of mind, relevance, eidetic CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this? | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,875 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesS. Kay Toombs (1988). Illness and the Paradigm of Lived Body. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 9 (2).
George W. Rainbolt (1987). Competition and the Patient-Centered Ethic. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 12 (1):85-99.
Richard T. Hull (1985). Informed Consent: Patient's Right or Patient's Duty? Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 10 (2):183-198.
Harry H. Gordon (1983). The Doctor–Patient Relationship. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 8 (3):243-256.
J. Strain James (1991). Chronic Illness and the Physician-Patient Relationship: A Response to the Hastings Center's "Ethical Challenges of Chronic Illness". Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 16 (2).
Mark Yarborough (1986). Patients and Profits. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 7 (1).
Barbro von Knorring (1994). S. Kay Toombs, The Meaning of Illness: A Phenomenological Account of the Different Perspectives of Physician and Patient. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992, Xi + 161 Pp., $64.00. [REVIEW] Journal of Phenomenological Psychology 25 (2):221-223.
Nelly Tsouyopoulos (1994). Postmodernist Theory and the Physician-Patient Relationship. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 15 (3).
James E. Rosenberg & Bernard Towers (1986). The Practice of Empathy as a Prerequisite for Informed Consent. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 7 (2).
S. Kay Toombs (1990). The Temporality of Illness: Four Levels of Experience. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 11 (3).
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-08-16Total downloads74 ( #11,448 of 556,840 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #64,931 of 556,840 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
