Medicine cannot afford to have ambiguity in its vocabulary as precision and understanding is key to the field’s success. However, a challenge in medical terminology includes how one should define the terms ‘health’ and ‘disease’. In this essay I intend to explain naturalism and normativism in relation to how each one defines ‘health’ and ‘disease’. In order to do this, I will analyse naturalism and normativism as well as their critiques . Finally, I will discuss which approach is best and the most successful in defining ‘health’ and ‘disease’.
Naturalism is the most prominent approach in defining health and disease. The approach defines these terms based on scientific theory and it highlights what is biologically natural in terms of health …show more content…
One critique is that naturalism does not properly reflect our use of the terms, health and disease. Another objection is that it neglects the role that our values play in determining whether a state is diseased or not. Additionally, any condition that is uncontrollable is seen as a disease to society irrespective of other …show more content…
In normativism, disease is defined as a state that is undesirable and health is identified as a state that is desirable. This brings in the factor of opinion and cross-cultural disagreements as what is deemed appealing to one group is not necessarily pleasing to another. An example is pregnancy as some women experience a healthy, happy pregnancy but others could see pregnancy as undesirable due to the gain in weight and morning sickness.
Additionally, normativism believes that the terms health and disease should explain how the terms are used in everyday life. Thus, in normativism, health and disease includes physiological and psychological states and is not solely based on biological functioning. Furthermore, normativism allows these terms to change depending on time. For instance, homosexuality, for some, only becomes “undesirable” when one wants to reproduce.
On the other hand, a major problem with naturalism is the association of disease with an undesirable state, as the approach fails to take subjectivity into account. Thus one can question if normativism actually achieves its aim. Such is the case with alcoholism – as normativism cannot explain the dispute of whether alcoholism is a disease or just an undesirable
Naturalism is the most prominent approach in defining health and disease. The approach defines these terms based on scientific theory and it highlights what is biologically natural in terms of health …show more content…
One critique is that naturalism does not properly reflect our use of the terms, health and disease. Another objection is that it neglects the role that our values play in determining whether a state is diseased or not. Additionally, any condition that is uncontrollable is seen as a disease to society irrespective of other …show more content…
In normativism, disease is defined as a state that is undesirable and health is identified as a state that is desirable. This brings in the factor of opinion and cross-cultural disagreements as what is deemed appealing to one group is not necessarily pleasing to another. An example is pregnancy as some women experience a healthy, happy pregnancy but others could see pregnancy as undesirable due to the gain in weight and morning sickness.
Additionally, normativism believes that the terms health and disease should explain how the terms are used in everyday life. Thus, in normativism, health and disease includes physiological and psychological states and is not solely based on biological functioning. Furthermore, normativism allows these terms to change depending on time. For instance, homosexuality, for some, only becomes “undesirable” when one wants to reproduce.
On the other hand, a major problem with naturalism is the association of disease with an undesirable state, as the approach fails to take subjectivity into account. Thus one can question if normativism actually achieves its aim. Such is the case with alcoholism – as normativism cannot explain the dispute of whether alcoholism is a disease or just an undesirable