Health as Complete Well-Being: The WHO Definition and Beyond

IF 1.4 3区哲学 Q2 ETHICS

Public Health Ethics Pub Date : 2023-07-27 DOI:10.1093/phe/phad017

Thomas Schramme

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract The paper defends the World Health Organisation (WHO) definition of health against widespread criticism. The common objections are due to a possible misinterpretation of the word complete in the descriptor of health as ‘complete physical, mental and social well-being’. Complete here does not necessarily refer to perfect well-being but can alternatively mean exhaustive well-being, that is, containing all its constitutive features. In line with the alternative reading, I argue that the WHO definition puts forward a holistic account, not a notion of perfect health. I use historical and analytical evidence to defend this interpretation. In the second part of the paper, I further investigate the two different notions of health (holistic health and perfect health). I argue that both ideas are relevant but that the holistic interpretation is more adept for political aims.

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健康是完全的福祉:世卫组织的定义及其以后

本文为世界卫生组织(WHO)对健康的定义辩护，反对广泛的批评。常见的反对理由是，在描述健康时，“完整”一词可能被误解为“身体、精神和社会上的完全健康”。这里的“完整”不一定指完美的幸福，但也可以指彻底的幸福，即包含其所有构成特征。与另一种解读一致，我认为世界卫生组织的定义提出了一个整体的解释，而不是一个完美健康的概念。我用历史和分析证据来捍卫这一解释。在论文的第二部分，我进一步研究了两种不同的健康概念(整体健康和完美健康)。我认为这两种观点都是相关的，但整体的解释更适合于政治目的。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Public Health Ethics PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-MEDICAL ETHICS

CiteScore

3.10

自引率

9.50%

发文量

审稿时长

>12 weeks

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