Disease, illness, sickness, health, healing and wholeness: exploring some elusive concepts. Issue 1 (1st June 2000)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Boyd, Kenneth M
• Is Part Of: Medical humanities. Volume 26:Issue 1(2000)
• Page Start: 9
• Page End: 17
• Publication Date: 2000-06-01
• Subjects: Health -- disease -- healing -- wholeness -- illness -- sickness; Medicine and the humanities -- Periodicals; Medical ethics -- Periodicals; 616.1
• DOI: 10.1136/mh.26.1.9
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1468-215X

Abstract

Abstract : Concepts such as disease and health can be difficult to define precisely. Part of the reason for this is that they embody value judgments and are rooted in metaphor. The precise meaning of terms like health, healing and wholeness is likely to remain elusive, because the disconcerting openness of the outlook gained from experience alone resists the reduction of first-person judgments (including those of religion) to third-person explanations (including those of science).