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PubMed1984

[Medical philosophy reflected in the history of medicine].

The main aim of the Medical Humanics course, as well as that of this university, is to educate students so that they will continue philosophizing for themselves throughout their lives. Dr. Hisayoshi Omodaka, the founder of Japanese Medical Humanics (or Igaku Gairon), claimed that this discipline must be the philosophy of medicine. Medical Humanics should be the philosophy for physicians, researchers and all other health-related professionals. This philosophy is different from the philosophy which is taught independently to freshmen in the university. Thus the philosophy of medicine should embody those concrete materials which are harvested directly from the hot spots of medical practice. This paper is based on the author's series of lectures in medical humanics with the title: "Man and Medicine", given between October and December of 1982 to the 5th-year undergraduates. In this series the author attempted to express his own views, along with the philosophical thinking of many great physicians and thinkers, so far as they are reflected in the mirror of the history of medicine. The outline is as follows: (1) Usefulness of the history of medicine for medical students. (2) Origin of medicine and the occult sciences. (3) Western classic medicine: from Hippocrates to the Renaissance. (4) Chinese classic medicine. (5) Brief sketch of Japanese medicine: from ancient to Meiji period. There is a general tendency among both medical students and teachers to make little of the history of medicine. However, as William Hazlitt wrote in his poem, "By despising all that has preceded us, we teach others to despise ourselves".

Buddhism↗

PubMed2002

Miracles and the limits of medical knowledge.

In considering whether medical miracles occur, the limits of epistemology bring us to confront our metaphysical worldview of medicine and nature in general. This raises epistemological questions of a higher order. David Hume's understanding of miracles as violations of the laws of nature assumes that nature is completely regular, whereas doctrines such as C. S. Peirce's "tychism" hold that there is an element of absolute chance in the workings of the universe. Process philosophy gives yet another view of the working of nature. Physicians have no epistemological grounds for declaring any cure to be miraculous. Miracles are theological (or philosophical) entities, and not medical entities. All physicians can do is to determine whether or not a cure is scientifically inexplicable according to the current epistemological standards of medical science. As these standards change, what is currently unexplainable may become explainable. However, we can also come to realize that our current explanations are in fact unsatisfactory. Our justifications of knowledge claims about miracles will depend on our views about determinism and indeterminism. If the universe is not a deterministic one, we should be open to the possibility of encountering what appear to us as sui generis events. These would not be violations of immutable laws of nature, but manifestations of the true workings of nature, and certainly causes for wonder.

Humans↗

PubMed2002

Perspective: Teaching evolution in higher education.

In the past decade, the academic community has increased considerably its activity concerning the teaching and learning of evolution. Despite such beneficial activity, the state of public understanding of evolution is considered woefully lacking by most researchers and educators. This lack of understanding affects evolution/science literacy, research, and academia in general. Not only does the general public lack an understanding of evolution but so does a considerable proportion of college graduates. However, it is not just evolutionary concepts that students do not retain. In general, college students retain little of what they supposedly have learned. Worse yet, it is not just students who have avoided science and math who fail to retain fundamental science concepts. Students who have had extensive secondary-level and college courses in science have similar deficits. We examine these issues and explore what distinguishes effective pedagogy from ineffective pedagogy in higher education in general and evolution education in particular. The fundamental problem of students' prior conceptions is considered and why prior conceptions often underpin students' misunderstanding of the evolutionary concepts being taught. These conceptions can often be discovered and addressed. We also attend to concerns about coverage of course content and the influence of religious beliefs, and provide helpful strategies to improve college-level teaching of evolution.

Attitude↗

PubMed1986

Some comments on Dr Iglesias's paper, 'In vitro fertilisation: the major issues'.

In an article in an earlier edition of the Journal of Medical Ethics (1) Dr Iglesias bases her analysis upon the mediaeval interpretation of Platonic metaphysics and Aristotelian logic as given by Aquinas. Propositional forms are applied to the analysis of experience. This results in a very abstract analysis. The essential connection of events and their changing temporal relationships are ignored. The dichotomy between body and soul is a central concept. The unchanging elements in experience are assumed to be more real than the actual world of experienced process. Such a view makes the analysis of the temporal factors in experience impossible. Its abstractness is quite unsuitable for the analysis of the ontological structure and development of the neonate from fertilisation to birth. A N Whitehead made the notion of organism central to his philosophy. He refused to place human experience outside nature, or admit dualism. His philosophy of organism is an attempt to uncover the essential elements connecting human experience with the physical and biological sciences. Time, change and process are, in his view, more real than the static abstractions obtainable by the use of the fallacy of misplaced concreteness. Use of the latter negates the essential connectedness of events and the importance of temporarily and change (2). In this paper I argue that the embryo, being an organism, is not analysable in terms of thinghood. It is a process. To apply Aristotelian logical concepts to it is to distort the real nature of the datum.

Beginning of Human Life↗

PubMed2004

Coping: pitfalls and promise.

Coping, defined as the thoughts and behaviors used to manage the internal and external demands of situations that are appraised as stressful, has been a focus of research in the social sciences for more than three decades. The dramatic proliferation of coping research has spawned healthy debate and criticism and offered insight into the question of why some individuals fare better than others do when encountering stress in their lives. We briefly review the history of contemporary coping research with adults. We discuss three primary challenges for coping researchers (measurement, nomenclature, and effectiveness), and highlight recent developments in coping theory and research that hold promise for the field, including previously unaddressed aspects of coping, new measurement approaches, and focus on positive affective outcomes.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2005

Religious attitudes toward prescriptions, medicines, and doctors in France.

Although the social sciences have studied the influence of social environment on individual behaviors regarding medication, very little research has been done on the variations that exist between patients in equivalent social contexts but with diverse religious backgrounds. This article presents the results of research on the correlation between patients' religious-cultural background (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or Muslim) and their behaviors regarding medication. It shows that the cultural origin as well as the collective history of the groups to which patients belong impacts their attitudes toward prescriptions, medicines, their own bodies, and doctors.

Attitude↗

PubMed1984

The Tisiyahi Klinik: a Nepalese medical centre in an intracultural field of relations.

In this paper I present a detailed case study of an exorcist in rural Nepal who has abandoned the explanatory paradigm of exorcism and taken up certain aspects of Brahmanical tradition, medical science and temple healing in order to establish a place of medical resort, called the Tisiyahi klinik. In particular, I investigate the intracultural field of relations of the exorcist and analyse the way in which these different health systems, each with its own domain and powers of explanation, were brought together to form one system at the clinic. In conclusion, I argue that these other health systems served to authenticate and legitimate the folk therapy of the exorcist so that his rural clinic might be seen by villagers as a medical centre of southern Nepal.

Culture↗

PubMed1998

Medicine in the Holy Bible.

The study of history of medical science from non-medical sources needs no apology. At first sight the discussion of what was thought in the past rather than what is known now appears to be of merely anti-quarian value. The Hebrews can be proud of having preserved in the Old Testament many old medical practices and traditions which throw light on ancient medicine in general and on Hebrew medical practices in particular. The Bible is a genuinely documented book presenting the wisdom, medical knowledge and the culture of a nomadic race.

Bible↗

PubMed1995

Power and spirituality in polio survivors: a study based on Rogers' science.

Rogers' model was used to study patterns of power and spirituality in polio survivors (n = 172) and people who have not had polio (n = 80). Participants completed the Power as Knowing Participation in Change Test and the Spiritual Orientation Inventory. Power was positively related to spirituality (r = .34, p < .005). Polio survivors manifested the same power (t = .44, df = 250, p = .33) and greater spirituality than people who had not experienced polio (t = 3.79, df = 250, p < .001), indicating that patterns of human field change are related to surviving polio. Recommendations include replicating this study with other populations and continuing to develop a theory of spirituality within Rogers' framework.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2003

Creationism and intelligent design.

Creationism, the rejection of evolution in favor of supernatural design, comes in many varieties besides the common young-earth Genesis version. Creationist attacks on science education have been evolving in the last few years through the alliance of different varieties. Instead of calls to teach "creation science," one now finds lobbying for "intelligent design" (ID). Guided by the Discovery Institute's "Wedge strategy," the ID movement aims to overturn evolution and what it sees as a pernicious materialist worldview and to renew a theistic foundation to Western culture, in which human beings are recognized as being created in the image of God. Common ID arguments involving scientific naturalism, "irreducible complexity," "complex specified information," and "icons of evolution," have been thoroughly examined and refuted. Nevertheless, from Kansas to Ohio to the U.S. Congress, ID continues lobbying to teach the controversy, and scientists need to be ready to defend good evolution education.

Biological Evolution↗

PubMed1997

Spirituality and discourse: a postmodern approach to hospice research.

In modern western society, because of the dominance of secular modernist ideas of rationalism and positivistic science, notions of spirituality have been at best marginalised, at worst excluded from our discourse on health care. Research into spirituality has been limited by modernist epistemological assumptions concerning 'objective' proof and measurements. This discussion seeks to help reverse such a direction by offering an example of research on an Australian hospice service (Karuna Hospice Service) which is inclusive of the notion of spirituality. This research indicates that a spiritual discourse was not only important in the genesis of this organisation, but is also a significant factor in energising and guiding the ongoing democratic, holistic, compassionate praxis of this hospice service.

Australia↗

PubMed1983

The genealogical descent of sexual psychoneuroendocrinology from sex and health theory: the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries.

In the aftermath of the inquisition, secular health theory became separate from sacred health theory. Both assimilated vital spirits or sympathies as explanatory concepts. Sympathies were progressively transformed into internal secretions and the hormones of endocrinology. The sexual genealogy of psychoneuroendocrinology traces back to the sexual transplantation experiments of John Hunger (1728 - 93). Sexology, the science, has the same genealogy, whereas sexosophy, the philosophy, does not. In sexosophy, the theory that vital spirits or sympathies lost by masturbation caused debility or degeneracy became, along with health-food and exercise theories, popular in 19th-century health doctrine. Graham crackers and kellogg's cornflakes were by-products of the diet/abstinence doctrine. With police power under the Comstock Law (1873), 19th-century sexosophy negated sexuality so effectively that human sexual psychoneuroendocrine research remains muffled and deprived of funds in 1983.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMed1997

[Antisemitism in medical-natural science and philosophical writings of Paracelsus].

During the "Third Reich", the famous German medical doctor Paracelsus (1493/94-1541) was often honoured as a forerunner of certain aspects of the "Nazi"-ideology. Especially some invectives against jews in his medical writings were often quoted in this context. But was he really the "racial" antisemite as the Nazis wanted to see him? In the present study the authors demonstrate in detail that Paracelsus, like many christian scholars in the early modern period, indeed was a propagator of a clear-cut antisemitism. But although he often used antisemitic stereotypes, his antisemitism was in no way "racial", and he was not one of the extremely radical antisemites of his time.

Germany↗

PubMed2000

Understanding culture and ethnicity: basic rudiments of an "anthropsychological" perspective for understanding human behavior.

While there appears to be general consensus in the behavioral sciences as to the importance of culture and ethnicity in shaping behavior, the discipline of psychology, a major producer of psychotherapists, is often resistant to the study of the basic concepts; seeing it as the domain of other disciplines. Thus, psychologically trained practitioners may not have rudimentary understanding of these concept; while endorsing and even trying to incorporate ethnically and culturally sensitive practices and techniques. This paper provides a basic reformulation of culture and ethnicity and presents the novel concept of an "anthropsychological" model for understanding individual behavior while being sensitive to ethnicity and culture.

Anthropology, Cultural↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Racial, religious, and national origin intermarriage in the U.S.: review of selected theory, method, and research.

"This article summarizes the intermarriage literature with special reference to books and articles in the social sciences. The literature is partitioned into theoretical approaches, conceptualization and operationalization, computational formulas used in the reporting of intermarriage, general findings on the extent and types of intermarriage, [and] correlates of and attitudes toward racial, religious and national origin intermarriage. The authors conclude that a variety of theories and methods have [been] and continue to be employed to investigate this phenomenon. Among the findings reported are that racial intermarriages are least prevalent and national origin intermarriages the most prevalent in the United States."

Americas↗

PubMed2004

[Established certainty: experiences with clinical chaplaincy between doubt, evidence and revelation].

Medicine must not be understood just as applied science. Modern physics, namely Quantum Theory, the theory of complementarity, and the "End of Certainty" (Ilya Prigogine) have proved the cogency of the perception of medicine as a mixture of the art of uncertainty and the science of probability. Research into chaos and order has revealed the dynamic structure of complex systems that no longer allow for undoubted prognosis. The only thing a physician can definitely promise is his readiness never to abandon a patient and to keep up personal integrity. Thus it is not only knowledge and skill that matter. It is background and authenticity that counts, which will make the doctor a guarantee of a covenant relationship that the patient may rely on. The importance of standing surety for someone in a therapeutic setting is demonstrated by giving examples from literature and personal experience in clinical chaplaincy.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed1997

A comparison of the geometric reasoning of students attending Israeli ultraorthodox and mainstream schools.

Effects of schooling on a geometric misconception were examined by comparing the performance of Israeli students attending ultraorthodox schools with that of peers attending mainstream schools. These groups were of special interest because both value education highly and send essentially all children to school, but I group receives extensive instruction in mathematics and science and the other receives almost none. Despite the ultraorthodox 12- to 14-year-olds' having received no instruction in geometry, they more often solved the geometric misconception problems than did mainstream peers who had received extensive instruction in the subject. Mainstream 16- to 18-year-olds did somewhat better on the misconception task than did orthodox age peers, but even there, the advantage of the mainstream students was limited to those exposed to the most advanced mathematics curriculum. How mainstream and orthodox schooling may have contributed to these findings is discussed.

Achievement↗

PubMed2000

[The anatomic tradition in Venice].

Venice had a long tradition and great reputation in the study of anatomical science dating back to the 1300's. The "Serenissima" Republic favoured the study and practice of anatomy as part of medical professional formation. Before the construction of the anatomical theater of San Giacomo dell'Orio, which took place in 1671, anatomical dissections were performed in churches, convents, hospitals and private homes. Even though Venice was not a University seat, it boosted numerous Venetian anatomists, among whom Benedetti, Massa, Santorini, and the medical activity of illustrious professors at the nearby University of Padua such as Vesalio, Falloppio, Spigelio, Vislingio and Morgagni.

Anatomy↗