© 1993 by British Society for the Philosophy of Science
Articles |
The Normal and Pathological: The Concept of a Scientific Medicine
Department of Philosophy, University of Hawaii at Manoa
In this paper it is suggested that Canguilhem's examination of the history of the distinction between the normal and the pathological contains material of relevance to current debates about the nature of medicine, in particular concerning the status of quantitative indicators as indicators of the need for medical intervention. His arguments against the equation of health with normality are presented, together with his own suggested definition of health and the implications of this definition for physiology and medicine.