{"id":3705,"date":"2023-09-28T10:00:51","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T09:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705"},"modified":"2023-09-22T10:15:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T09:15:09","slug":"reversing-the-medical-humanities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2023\/09\/28\/reversing-the-medical-humanities\/","title":{"rendered":"Reversing the Medical Humanities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Article Summary by Helene Scott-Fordsmand<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the article \u201cReversing the Medical Humanities\u201d I make the argument that humanities scholars engaging in medical humanities have tended to think about how they might help improve medicine in different ways \u2013 for example by training doctors in empathy and communication, or by acting as a critic that keeps medicine sober, reminding biomedical researchers that they are dealing with living human beings. While medicine is undisputedly an important element in human affairs, I argue that this single-sided focus has ignored how medicine might also help us do better humanities. One fundamental claim in medical humanities is that medicine is not \u2018just\u2019 a science but must also be an art or a humanities practice insofar as it deals with human beings and operates in the existential conditions under which we all live our lives. If this is true, medicine could hold insights with valuable bearings in the humanities. In my own research, I enact this idea by aiming to let medical practice inform philosophical concepts and debates. For example, to understand the philosophical question of why categorization and classification is important for human enquiry more broadly, I currently explore how orthopaedic surgeons use classification systems to understand and explain the injuries of their patients. The hope is that a philosophy grounded in these actual practices will be more attuned to other human activities and hence, travel into and contribute more easily to other domains of science and society.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Read the full article on the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mh.bmj.com\/content\/49\/3\/347\"><em>Medical Humanities\u00a0<\/em>journal website<\/a><\/strong>.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3706\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Portrait of Helene Scott-Fordsmand\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-1536x1536.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-2048x2048.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-640x640.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-250x250.jpeg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Helene Scott-Fordsmand is a philosopher of science and medicine, currently a postdoc at the Department for History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. She employs ethnographic methods to explore the epistemology of medical practice, representations of the medical body, and messy and unruly elements of enquiry.<\/em><!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article Summary by Helene Scott-Fordsmand In the article \u201cReversing the Medical Humanities\u201d I make the argument that humanities scholars engaging in medical humanities have tended to think about how they might help improve medicine in different ways \u2013 for example by training doctors in empathy and communication, or by acting as a critic that keeps [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2023\/09\/28\/reversing-the-medical-humanities\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15028],"tags":[15044],"class_list":["post-3705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal-announcements","tag-research"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Reversing the Medical Humanities - Medical Humanities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How might medicine help us to &#039;do better humanities&#039;? Helene Scott-Fordsmand considers this question in today&#039;s article summary.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reversing the Medical Humanities - Medical Humanities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How might medicine help us to &#039;do better humanities&#039;? Helene Scott-Fordsmand considers this question in today&#039;s article summary.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medical Humanities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-28T09:00:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-300x300.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Pak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Pak\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Pak\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c\"},\"headline\":\"Reversing the Medical Humanities\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-28T09:00:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705\"},\"wordCount\":305,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-300x300.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"research\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Journal Announcements\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705\",\"name\":\"Reversing the Medical Humanities - Medical Humanities\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-300x300.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-28T09:00:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"How might medicine help us to 'do better humanities'? Helene Scott-Fordsmand considers this question in today's article summary.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-300x300.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-300x300.jpeg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3705#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reversing the Medical Humanities\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/\",\"name\":\"Medical Humanities\",\"description\":\"Providing a space for scholarly intervention into the conversation around medicine, as practice and philosophy, as it engages with humanities and arts.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Medical Humanities\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/blog-logo-mh.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/blog-logo-mh.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":34,\"caption\":\"Medical Humanities\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c\",\"name\":\"Chris Pak\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chris Pak\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/blog-team\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/author\\\/chrispak\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reversing the Medical Humanities - Medical Humanities","description":"How might medicine help us to 'do better humanities'? Helene Scott-Fordsmand considers this question in today's article summary.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reversing the Medical Humanities - Medical Humanities","og_description":"How might medicine help us to 'do better humanities'? Helene Scott-Fordsmand considers this question in today's article summary.","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705","og_site_name":"Medical Humanities","article_published_time":"2023-09-28T09:00:51+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-300x300.jpeg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Chris Pak","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Pak","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705"},"author":{"name":"Chris Pak","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/person\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c"},"headline":"Reversing the Medical Humanities","datePublished":"2023-09-28T09:00:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705"},"wordCount":305,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-300x300.jpeg","keywords":["research"],"articleSection":["Journal Announcements"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705","name":"Reversing the Medical Humanities - Medical Humanities","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-300x300.jpeg","datePublished":"2023-09-28T09:00:51+00:00","description":"How might medicine help us to 'do better humanities'? Helene Scott-Fordsmand considers this question in today's article summary.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-300x300.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2023\/09\/Scott-Fordsmand-Helene-Reversing-the-Medical-Humanities-300x300.jpeg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3705#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reversing the Medical Humanities"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/","name":"Medical Humanities","description":"Providing a space for scholarly intervention into the conversation around medicine, as practice and philosophy, as it engages with humanities and arts.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#organization","name":"Medical Humanities","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2017\/10\/blog-logo-mh.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2017\/10\/blog-logo-mh.png","width":300,"height":34,"caption":"Medical Humanities"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/person\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c","name":"Chris Pak","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chris Pak"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/blog-team\/"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/author\/chrispak\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/345"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3705\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}