TY - JOUR AU - Reynolds, Joel Michael PY - 2018 DA - 2018/07/04 TI - Renewing Medicine’s basic concepts: on ambiguity JO - Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine SP - 8 VL - 13 IS - 1 AB - Edmund Pellegrino lamented that the cultural climate of the industrialized West had called the fundamental means and ends of medicine into question, leading him to propose a renewed reflection on medicine’s basic concepts, including health, disease, and illness. My aim in this paper is take up Pellegrino’s call. I argue that in order to usher in this renewal, the concept of ambiguity should take on a guiding role in medical practice, both scientific and clinical. After laying out Pellegrino’s vision, I focus on the concept of normality, arguing that it undergirds modern medicine’s other basic concepts. I draw on critiques by scholars in disability studies that show the concept of normality to be instructively ambiguous. Discussing the cases of Deafness and body integrity identity disorder (BIID), I argue that if medicine is to uphold its epistemic authority and fulfill its melioristic goals, ambiguity should become a central medical concept. SN - 1747-5341 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13010-018-0061-4 DO - 10.1186/s13010-018-0061-4 ID - Reynolds2018 ER -