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Health as temporally extended: theoretical foundations and implications.

¹Polonsky Library, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Jerusalem, Israel. aschick@gmail.com.

History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences

|July 28, 2022

Summary

This study proposes a new health theory integrating contemporary medicine and life course approaches. It grounds this theory in the philosophy of biology, emphasizing a process view of life for extended epidemiological insights.

Keywords:

Disease Epidemiology Health Human temporality Life course epidemiology Life course health development Philosophy of biology Philosophy of medicine Process ontology

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Area of Science:

Integrative health sciences
Philosophy of biology
Epidemiology

Background:

Contemporary medicine increasingly adopts a temporally extended epidemiological perspective.
Life course approaches to health are central to modern medical research.
Existing health theories may not fully capture this extended, dynamic view.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a novel theory of health.
To align this theory with contemporary epidemiological and life course perspectives.
To provide a robust theoretical framework for understanding health over extended timeframes.

Main Methods:

Conceptual analysis of contemporary medical research trends.
Integration of life course epidemiology principles.
Application of process philosophy from biology to health theory.

Main Results:

A proposed theory of health grounded in a process view of life.
Demonstration of the theory's alignment with temporally extended epidemiology.
Establishment of theoretical links between philosophy of biology and health sciences.

Conclusions:

A process-oriented, temporally extended theory of health is feasible and valuable.
This theoretical framework supports life course approaches and contemporary epidemiological research.
The philosophy of biology offers essential grounding for a dynamic, evolving concept of health.