A Defence of a Holistic Concept of Health

• In this paper I argue for the need of a positive, value-oriented, concept of health. I call it a holistic concept in that it involves looking upon health as having to do with the person as a whole. It is the person as a whole who is healthy or ill. Ill health is here taken to be the opposite of health. A distinctive feature of holistic health is that it is not identical with the absence of diseases or injuries. A concept of this general kind exists already in many areas in society. The most notable exponent of such a concept is the World Health Organization in its many characterizations of health and related concepts. But holistic analyses of health are advocated also by significant representatives of health care and public health and indeed by many theorists of medicine and nursing. A problem with many of these analyses, however, is that they are not carefully formulated and not presented within a strict conceptual theory. I will argue that my own proposal for a theory of health can do much of the work required. The paper has the following structure. First, I take a stand with regard to conceptual analysis and its role in determining the adequacy of definitions of health. Second, I make a brief survey of crucial characterizations of holistic health, both in policy documents and in the scholarly literature. In many of these conceptions the person’s abilities and subjective experiences come to the fore. Third, I consider the use of the term health in the standard medical encounter and in the formulation of goals of medicine. Fourth, I scrutinize some arguments concerning priorities in medicine, where a holistic concept of health plays a crucial role. Finally, I will give a brief outline of my own conceptual theory of holistic health.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Filosofi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Philosophy (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Annan medicin och hälsovetenskap -- Övrig annan medicin och hälsovetenskap (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Other Medical and Health Sciences -- Other Medical and Health Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Philosophy of Medicine

Holistic theory of health

The WHO theory of health

The concept of health in the clinic

Goals of medicine

Prioritization in health care

Conceptual analysis

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kap (ämneskategori)