Hermeneutics and experiences of the body. The case of low back pain

Journal/Book: Theor Med Bioeth. 1998; 19: Spuiboulevard 50, PO Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publ. 277-293.

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the notion of clinical medicine as a hermeneutical enterprise and to bridge the gap between the general perspectives of hermeneutics and the particularities of medical practice. The case of a patient with low back pain is analyzed. The discussion centers around the metaphor of ''the patient as a text'' and a model of five social discourses about low back pain. The problems addressed are: (1) the nature of a moral experience, (2) the variety of available texts, (3) the difference between the doctor's and patient's narratives, and (4) the patient's and doctor's responsibility regarding the existential, biographical meaning of an illness. Although many problems are left unsolved, it is argued that from a philosophical point of view the notion of medicine as a hermeneutical enterprise opens up the possibility of gaining insight in the foundations of the clinical encounter.

Note: Article Dekkers W, Univ Nijmegen, Fac Med Sci, Dept Eth Philosophy & Hist Med, POB 9101, NL-6500 HB Nijmegen, NETHERLANDS

Keyword(s): the body as a text; clinical judgment; hermeneutics; interpretation; low back pain; medical ethics; moral experience; narrativity; patient-physician relationship; CLINICAL ETHICS; PHILOSOPHY; MEDICINE

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