Health and Illness as Enacted Phenomena

Area of Science:

• Phenomenology
• Philosophy of Medicine
• Enactivism

Background:

• Existing health theories (biomedical, ability-based, biopsychosocial) are limited in scope.
• A bodily-based, worldly-engaged phenomenology offers a novel perspective on health and illness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore health and illness through the lens of enactivism and phenomenology.
• To scrutinize existing health theories using an enactivist-phenomenological framework.
• To propose a new understanding of health and illness based on existential feelings.

Main Methods:

• Phenomenological analysis of enactivism.
• Critical review of prominent health theories.
• Exploration of lived experience in health and illness.

Main Results:

• Health is characterized by a world-disclosing aspect of existential feelings, enabling ease in life projects.
• Illness is defined by unhomelike existential feelings (pain, fatigue, anxiety, etc.) that alienate the individual from their lived body.
• Enactivism provides a framework where health is integral to leading a good life.

Conclusions:

• Enactivism offers a robust phenomenological understanding of health and illness.
• Existential feelings are central to experiencing health and suffering from illness.
• This perspective highlights the embodied and worldly nature of human well-being.