Physiotherapy, and biomedicine generally, owes a lot to René Descartes (for a refresher on an earlier post on the critical issue of Cartesian Dualism in PT, go here). But Descartes’ influence extends much further than just the body-as-machine, and has fundamentally shaped medicine and physiotherapy practice ethics for more than 100 years. 400 years ago, Descartes set out to discover what could be known beyond doubt. His method was to doubt everything, from the existence of physical objects around him, to dreams and ideas. What was left, he surmised, would be the basis upon which all knowledge could be built. The first thing Descartes believed he could trust was that he himself was … [Read more...] about Critique of the biomedical model #3 (or what it really means to be a person)
Critique of the biomedical model #1
The Critical Physiotherapy Network is a diverse group of people, but if you was one thing that probably unites most of its members, it would be the critique of the biomedical model. In one way or another, we are united in our sense of frustrations with the limits of this model and the way it is applied to physiotherapy. But we are not alone, and outside of the walls of the traditional medical library, there is a wealth of critical commentary on the model, much of it emanating from the social sciences. Whether because of the rising cost of medically-led healthcare, the growing skepticism of its effectiveness, the knowing prescription of useless treatments, stories of medical … [Read more...] about Critique of the biomedical model #1
What is the biomedical model #3
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been running a series of blog posts on the biomedical model. Biomedicine is, without doubt, one of the most powerful discourse affecting the way physiotherapists think and practice, but it is also rarely explained or explored. So over the next few blog posts I’ll be unpacking its essential features. The first two posts in the series focused on specific aetiology and germ theory. In this post, we’re going to tackle Cartesian Dualism. Cartesian Dualism gets it’s name from the work of the French skeptical philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650) who, perhaps more than anyone, captured the zeitgeist of the Renaissance by defining a distinction between the mind … [Read more...] about What is the biomedical model #3