Abstract

REIS, Róbson Ramos dos. The phenomenological-existential account of illness: a review. Nat. hum. [online]. 2016, vol.18, n.1, pp. 122-143. ISSN 1517-2430.

In this paper I present a review of the phenomenological-existential account of illness. The three first sections examine the fundamental notions of medical phenomenology, sketching the main elements of living body's paradigm in order to characterize the phenomenological account of illness. In the two following sections, the interpretations of ill body based on the analogy with the broken tool are examined, pointing out the concept of illness as the attunement of bodily unhomelikeness (Unheimlichkeit) in existence. The main criticisms of the phenomenological approach of medicine and illness are presented in the last section.

Keywords : theory of medicine; medical phenomenology; illness; body-tool; Heidegger.

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