Cited by 230Medicine, History, and PhilosophyEmpathy and Medical EducationHealth, psychology, and well-being

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 20 of the 20 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 1 of the 30 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Disease, illness, sickness, health, healing and wholeness: exploring some elusive concepts

Open access
Boyd, Kenneth M·2000·Medical Humanities

Abstract

Concepts such as disease and health can be difficult to define precisely. Part of the reason for this is that they embody value judgments and are rooted in metaphor. The precise meaning of terms like health, healing and wholeness is likely to remain elusive, because the disconcerting openness of the outlook gained from experience alone resists the reduction of first-person judgments (including those of religion) to third-person explanations (including those of science).

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1136/mh.26.1.9

Cites

20 of 20 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

1 of 30 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged · accuracy not yet measured

Show all 8 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 49
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 24
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
55 of 55
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The word health comes from an old Germanic root that means wholeness.

    “The word derives from an old Germanic root meaning wholeness.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Human beings are strongly imitative.

    “Humans are highly imitative animals.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Most people in our society make the same or similar value judgments about what disease, illness, sickness, and health words mean and what are examples of what they mean.

    “most people, in our society at least, make the same or similar value judgments about what these words mean and what are examples of what they mean.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    There is a common core of ideas about what disease is or what health is.

    “There is, as it were, a common core of ideas about what disease is or what health is.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The Judaeo-Christian rejection of idolatry opened the way for modern scientific enquiry.

    “this religious rejection of idolatry, it has often been argued, was what opened the way for modern scientific enquiry.”
5 of 5

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

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Show all 20 references

Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Brown L, ed. The new shorter English dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.
  2. 1975, Journal of Medical Ethics, I, 81
  3. 1997, Times Literary Supplement, 16, 6
  4. 1986, Journal of Medical Ethics, 12, 172
  5. Schrödinger E. What is life? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1967: 118f.
  6. 1997, Times Literary Supplement, 16, 5

Cited by

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Metadata

Authors
Boyd, K. M.
Affiliations
Institute of Medical Ethics (GB)
Corresponding author
Boyd, Kenneth M
Venue
Medical Humanities
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2000-06
Volume
26
Issue
1
Pages
9-17
ISSN
  • 1468-215X (ISSN-L)
  • 1473-4265
OpenAlex
W2121821815
Cited by
230
References
20
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 7
FWCI
12.23
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Medical Humanities (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
  • DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Medicine, History, and Philosophy
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Empathy and Medical Education
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health, psychology, and well-being
Keywords
concept of disease, concept of health, illness, healing, wholeness, metaphor, value judgments, first-person experience, religion and medicine, science and medicine
MeSH terms
Death, Disease, Health, Humans, Munchausen Syndrome, Terminology as Topic, Patients, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Science, Social Values, Metaphor

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