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Biomedicine as a Cultural Worldview

Biomedicine as a Cultural Worldview. Wednesday, September 13, 2000. What is “biomedicine”?. A system of healing that “took off” in 17th century Europe claiming basis in empirical science

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Biomedicine as a Cultural Worldview

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  1. Biomedicine as a Cultural Worldview Wednesday, September 13, 2000

  2. What is “biomedicine”? • A system of healing • that “took off” in 17th century Europe • claiming basis in empirical science • and is now among the most socially powerful healing systems in the world, taught at universities in US and throughout the world

  3. Images of the body • Ancient Egypt • Body as microcosm of irrigation system • Classical India • Body as microcosm of caste system • Tantric Buddhism • Body as microcosm of the world/cosmos

  4. Traditional Hmong image of the body • Body as home, house or village • Each spirit within is unique and irreplaceable • the spirits must be in harmony • reflects centrality of tight-knit group in Hmong society

  5. The biomedical image: body is a machine • Model of the clock • A shell enclosing a complex set of impersonal mechanisms • Clock was crucial technological breakthrough in 17th century Europe • The more recent model: the automobile

  6. Implications of the machine image, 1 • Encourages impersonal, invasive manipulation to get at the internal gears and mechanisms (open case, look under the hood)

  7. Implications of the machine image, 2 • Encourages inter-body transfers of blood and organs • all parts are replaceable, • as are the parts of a machine

  8. Implications of the machine image, 3 • Encourages proliferation of sub-specializations • Currently over 100 biomedical specialties

  9. Implications of machine image, 4 • Encourages emphasis on the tangible and mechanical • the social and psychological are suspiciously intangible • physician as technician, seeing many patients • What remains un-analyzed?

  10. Implications of the machine image, 5 • Encourages depersonalization • the focus is often on the disease, not person • technical language renders pain abstract • hospital gown turns individual into a body • Anatomy 101 ritual

  11. From mechanic to hero • Aggressive, decisive action • Dramatic, life-saving heroism • The mystique of emergency and surgery • Overlap with Hmong shamanism?

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