Medical hermeneutics: Where is the “text” we are interpreting?

The present paper is a commentary on an article by Drew Leder [1]. Leder identifies a series of texts in the clinical encounter, emphasizes the central role of interpretation in making sense of each of these texts, and articulates ordering principles to guide the interpretive work.The metaphor of clinical work as textual explication, however, creates the expectation that there is a text somewhere to be found. Such an expectation invites doctors and patients to search for the text and runs the risk of conceptualizing patients as more static than they are. If one is to use the textual metaphor, one must appreciate the radical extent to which the clinical encounter is a mutually produced and shifting entity. The qualities of mutuality and indeterminacy are not those one usually associates with texts. One might ultimately be better served by a different metaphor based more directly on uncertainty.     

Praxis makes perfect: Illness as a bridge between biological concepts of disease and social conceptions of health

Analyses of biological concepts of disease and social conceptions of health indicate that they are structurally interdependent. This in turn suggests the need for a bridge theory of illness. The main features of such a theory are an emphasis on the logical properties of value terms, close attention to the features of the experience of illness, and an analysis of this experience as action failure, drawing directly on the internal structure of action. The practical applications of this theory are outlined for a number of problems in each of the three main practical areas, clinical work, teaching and research. In each case the resources of the theory suggest new models and generate new results. The full practical significance of the theory, however, is shown to consist in the way in which it ties together biological and social theories into an integrated picture of the conceptual structure of medicine as a whole. It is argued, finally, that practical efficiency of this kind is a test of theory not only in the philosophy of medicine but also in general philosophy.     

Some relationships between the information function of IRT and the signal/noise ratio and reliability coefficient of classical test theory

It is shown that IRTs information function for an item is functionally related to local versions of classical test theories' signal/noise ratio and reliability coefficient.     

Medical education: The training of ethical physicians

This paper suggests that medical education be revised to assist in diffusing potential ethical dilemmas that arise during health care provision. A revised medical education would emphasize the role of the humanities in the training of physicians, especially in light of recent critiques of the canonical scientific model in general, and more specifically in the use of that model for medical training and practice.I wish to thank Dr. Mary Ann Cutter and Melissa M. Amaro for their critical suggestions.     

The Antinomies of Collective Political Trauma: A Pre-Theory

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination has less of a lasting impact on the Israeli public's political values, beliefs and attitudes than might have been anticipated from the magnitude of the event and intensity of the immediate responses. Why did the assassination have such a short-lived effect? This article considers the puzzle as a specific case of the broader phenomenon of collective political trauma and its consequences for values, beliefs and attitudes held by the mass public toward issues that it associates with the traumatic event. The article offers six deductively inferred hypotheses that describe, explain and link affective, cognitive and behavioral aspects of collectively experienced trauma. These hypotheses form a pre-theory explaining the perseverence of core political cognitions, even in the face of a considerable challenge to their validity and relevance.     

The Future of Neuropsychology in Medical Specialties

Although neuropsychology continues to grow as a valued service in most medical specialties, because of its multiple uses with diverse populations, it is necessary to evaluate the specialty critically in order to ensure continued future success. This article reviews areas in which neuropsychology is most firmly established, potential growth areas, and likely obstacles to success in the future. Suggestions are provided for ways in which neuropsychology can be improved/adapted in clinical, business, research, and training areas. On sabattical at Bebek University, Instanbul, Turkey     

Building and Maintaining Clinical Programs

This paper describes the basic elements of practice development and management within the academic medical setting. These include assessment of the market environment, both in the community and within the medical setting, product development, marketing, budget basics, quality, managed care negotiations, and finding time to do research in a financially-driven health care system.     

医学伦理学概念之探究

医学伦理学的概念看起来很简单,一般情况下人们便习以为常地接受了作为应用规范伦理学的一个分支的科学地位,而忽视了医学对医学伦理学所起的作用。本文认为：医学伦理学的具体内容是医学科技与伦理道德两因素相互作用的产物,对其相互作用的形式和产物的具体分析和总结便可构成这门学科的理论体系。     

Two Books for Teachers

Murphy, Nancey and Ellis, George F. R. On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Theology, Cosmology, and Ethics
Haught, John F. Science and Religion: From Conflict to Conversation