뇌손상 연구에 기반한 골드슈타인의 환자론

Abstract

Goldstein, a German neurologist and physician, devoted his professional life to treating numerous patients with brain injuries. Among these was Schneider, a World War I veteran, who was unable to utter an abstract sentence as simple as “The snow is black.” Goldstein observed another patient who could intricately draw a church window from memory, but failed to produce a simple square. Likewise, some patients could discern various colors but struggled to categorize similar shades and assign them correct names. For Goldstein, these patients’ predicaments were not merely physical or chemical deviations from a normal condition. Instead, they became patients due to a shrinkage in their world, making them heavily dependent on environmental stimuli and limiting their response spectrum. According to Goldstein, a normal, healthy state involves the ability to think abstractly and categorically, maintain some detachment from the milieu's stimuli, and not be solely bound by its concrete demands. Within this framework, Goldstein strived to help patients grappling with pathological conditions to lead the most fulfilling lives possible in their shrunken world. His philosophy of medicine paves the way for the study of “patientology,” an ontological exploration of the state of being a patient. This ontological approach to understanding the inherent potential of humans becoming patients offers deep insights into our contemporary medical environment, where individuals may live significant portions of their lives in hospital settings.