Document Detail


Tolerance and illness: the politics of medical and psychiatric classification.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20624764     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
In this paper, I explore the links between liberal political theory and the evaluative nature of medical classification, arguing for stronger recognition of those links in a liberal model of medical practice. All judgments of medical or psychiatric "dysfunction," I argue, are fundamentally evaluative, reflecting our collective willingness or reluctance to tolerate and/or accommodate the conditions in question. Illness, then, is "socially constructed." But the relativist worries that this loaded phrase evokes are unfounded; patients, doctors, and communities will agree in the vast majority of cases about what counts as illness. Where they cannot come to agreement, however, we are faced with precisely the sort of dispute about values and ways of life that the institutions of the liberal state are designed to accommodate. I accordingly sketch a model of medical practice, based loosely on Jürgen Habermas's political theories, designed to maximize both our awareness and our understanding of these disputes.
Authors:
Shane Nicholas Glackin
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article     Date:  2010-07-11
Journal Detail:
Title:  The Journal of medicine and philosophy     Volume:  35     ISSN:  1744-5019     ISO Abbreviation:  J Med Philos     Publication Date:  2010 Aug 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-07-30     Completed Date:  2010-11-12     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7610512     Medline TA:  J Med Philos     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  449-65     Citation Subset:  E; IM    
Affiliation:
Corozal, Ceanchor Road, Howth, Ireland. shane.n.glackin@gmail.com
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Deafness / diagnosis
Depression / diagnosis
Disease / classification*
Ethical Analysis
Homosexuality / classification
Humans
Judgment*
Mental Disorders / classification*
Paternalism
Philosophy, Medical
Politics*
Prejudice
Social Environment*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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