Health, Disease, and Illness: Concepts in Medicine

Drapetomania was a little-known disease found among black slaves in the United States in the 1850s. The main symptom, according to medical opinion? The desire to run away from slave masters. In earlier centuries gout was understood as a metabolic disease of the affluent, so much so that it became a badge of upper-crust honor--and a medical excuse to avoid hard work. Today, is there such a thing as mental illness, or is mental illness just a myth? Is Alzheimer's really a disease? What is menopause? A biological phenomenon, or a social construction?

In this successor volume to the 1981 Concepts of Health and Disease the three editors, Caplan, McCartney, and Sisti, explore how society understands and determines health, disease, and illness. The 28 classic essays are divided into four parts: Historical Discussions; Characterizing Health, Disease, and Illness; Clinical Applications of Health and Disease; and Normalcy, Genetic Disease, and Enhancement: The Future of the Concepts of Health and Disease. Drawing on a wide variety of sources--from Galen (150 CE) to Maimonedes (1150) to contemporary bioethicists and philosophers--the editors demonstrate how concepts of health and disease evolve from generation to generation--and remain, despite claims of scientific objectivity, culture and value laden.

Foreword by Edmund Pellegrino, M.D., author of numerous books on philosophy and medicine.