Anthropological algology and bioethics

Abstract

The importance of biopsychosocial factors in the genesis and maintenance of disease is increasingly being recognized. Most illnesses should be studied from a multifactorial perspective to facilitate understanding and treating them. Many psychopathological processes involve factors such as loneliness, hopelessness, and lack of social cohesion. As early as the nineteenth century, J.M. Charcot defined those illnesses in which no organic lesion was visible as functional disorders. Today, the anthropological view of illness known as the Heidelberg School provides us with a more global and comprehensible assessment of illness. The anthropological approach is complemented by a bioethical one, a bioethics of daily life which, as a practical science, studies and evaluates the living conditions of individuals, seeking practical solutions and contributing its reflections with deliberation and care. In this paper, we aim to highlight the most important factors that have an impact on illness by providing an anthropological view of illness and bringing bioethics closer to everyday life.