The Philosophical Role of Illness

Abstract

This article examines the philosophical role of illness. It briefly surveys the philosophical role accorded to illness in the history of philosophy and explains why illness merits such a role. It suggests that illness modifies, and thus sheds light on, normal experience, revealing its ordinary and therefore overlooked structure. Illness also provides an opportunity for reflection by performing a kind of suspension (epoché) of previously held beliefs, including tacit beliefs. The article argues that these characteristics warrant a philosophical role for illness. While the performance of most philosophical procedures is volitional and theoretical, however, illness is uninvited and threatening, throwing the ill person into anxiety and uncertainty. As such it can be viewed as a radical philosophical motivation that can profoundly alter our outlook. The article suggests that illness can change the ways in which we philosophise: it may shape philosophical methods and concerns and change one's sense of salience and conception of philosophy.

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“…Serious illness places a person on the threshold of life which is the ultimate point from where everything past is abandoned and a new horizon is in sight. This turning point in life is forced upon the individual by the illness and experienced as a detachment from normal life . Bridging this kind of standstill to the present research context and expanding it further is possible when turning to the opposite modality – existential mobility .…”

“…In addition, the change in appearance was a doubled edged sword at times where the rash and alopecia were undetectable, but fatigue and joint pain were still a daily limitation. The phenomenological research of British philosopher Havi Carel enhances our understanding of how the body changes over time when chronic illness interferes and how an unreliable body transforms into an existential matter . Carel argues that at first the limitation of the body appears to be of practical concern, but soon after it becomes an existential limitation because of the constraint on life possibilities.…”

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“…Havi Carrel desenvolveu essa problemática em seu artigo "The philosophical role of illness"; nele, ao examinar sobre "a função filosófica de uma enfermidade grave, crônica e ameaçadora da vida", ela sugere e sustenta que "a enfermidade é relevante para a filosofia porque ela revela aspectos da existência e experiências corpóreas de modo que revelam dimensões adicionais da vida humana". 3 Destaco, para efeitos da nossa reflexão, parte das reflexões fenomenológicas de Carrel tecidas a partir do tema da enfermidade. Em primeiro lugar, "a epoché nos pede para nos desalojar de nossos hábitos e rotinas diárias de modo a refletir sobre eles; isto, eu sugiro, é o que acontece na enfermidade.…”

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“…Tokie išgyvenimai ne tik nušviečia kitomis spalvomis įprastinį gyvenimo ritmą ir kasdienes, dažnai neįsisąmonintas kūno praktikas, bet priverčia, ar bent jau suteikia galimybę suskliausti (epoché), turimus įsitikinimus ir požiūrius, kuriais buvo anksčiau vadovaujamasi (Carel 2014). Ypač po sunkios stuburo traumos dėl įvairių organizmo funkcionavimo komplikacijų asmenys dažnai išgyvena mirties grėsmę -savo baigtinumą šiame pasaulyje, kuris nekintamoje laiko tėkmėje toliau tęsiasi kitiems jame gyvenantiems subjektams.…”