Medicine and Dialogue

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Abstract
Physicians have for some time been questioning the prevailing view of medicine as applied biology. It is urged that medicine needs to be reconceived so as to provide appropriate emphasis on the patient's experience and understanding of illness. After reviewing these arguments and the scientific paradigm underlying the received view in light of certain themes in medicine's history and of current thinking, Pellegrino's thesis is analyzed: medicine should be understood as an inherently moral enterprise, a form of praxis focused on “the healing relationship”. Understanding the illness experience and the professed healer's “compassion” supports Pellegrino's view, and suggests that the healing relationship is perhaps best conceived as a form of dialogue.

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