Abstract:

Identifies the historical roots & tenets of the dominant medical worldview: the Western biomedical model, with doctrines that include body-mind dualism, physical reductionism, the mechanical analogy, specific etiology, & the body as the appropriate focus of regimen & control. Pressures straining the paradigm are discussed, including the force of human & population aging & the accompanying dominance of chronic illness as a focus of health care. The tentative outlines of an emergent model are described in the context of the current health policy debate, suggesting that the mind, biography, surrounding environment, & culture become very significant in a non-Cartesian world.