Introduction

Abstract

Over the past decade in particular, the medical humanities have become a significant field for interdisciplinary study, drawing attention from the sciences in relation to humanising medical students, and from the humanities as a form of legitimisation and research impact. The boundaries of the human body can be in conflict with the boundaries of the human being. Knowing the body and knowing the human, and understanding the differing boundaries of these two concepts, reflects in many ways the conflicting and expansive boundaries of medical humanities. The fluid, mobile boundaries of the medical humanities speak figuratively to the boundaries of the human body/human being and the boundaries of medicine's remit. Through tracing a history of medical thought, it is evident that medicine, in broad terms, has played a crucial role in the development of modernity, and understandings of culture, society and what it means to be human. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.