Disease: A Social Product

Paper Summary:

This paper explores Sander Gilman's theory that the representations of illness and disease are manifestations of society which are susceptible to changes, much the way knowledge is. Art and literature are two major avenues in which society projects its beliefs and views. Gilman uses this phenomenon to examine how disease and illness are seen through society. Gilman contends that in art and literature, painters and poets have accumulated their society's fears of illness and disease and manifested them into very detailed pictorial representations. The writer stresses the need to create representations that can be physically seen which would lessen society's fear of illness. This paper also discusses the various methods created by scientists in which observations and ideas can in fact be seen and scrutinized which results in better understanding of disease and illness.

From the Paper:

"Scientists have created a method by which observations and ideas can be observed and scrutinized in order to better the comprehension of the world. The scientific method is central to new ideas and theories becoming more accepted in the scientific community. Just as a human relies on its five senses to interact with the world, the scientific method relies on human observations and ideas to create knowledge. Thus, in its own essence, the scientific method is relying on lesser means of perception in order to broaden the understanding of the world. As an idea passes through the scientific method on its way to becoming accepted knowledge, it must first pass the task of acceptance by society."

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