This doctoral thesis describes the formation, activities and dissolution of the Czech Society of Biotypology (1937-1959), herein used as an example of impact of the constitutional typology (human typology science) on the Czechoslovak medicine. Human constitution science (in French and Romance languages called biotypology) classifies individual human beings on the base of morphological and physiological characteristics, with particular emphasis on forecast of future trends. The core of the science focuses on correlation between the physical appearance of a person and his/her mental characteristics. The Czech Society of Biotypology (Česká společnost biotypologická - ČSB) was founded with ambitions not only to study human beings, but also to increase their potential. The whole movement was therefore conceived as an example of a sanitation scientific program in accordance with the governmental interest in rationalization of population care. The methodology of the thesis is based on Foucault's concept of biopower - change of power strategies and their constitutive influence on the development and change of social relations, values and individual strategies of persons. The story of formation and dissolution of ČSB is interpreted as a consequence of these changes. The core of the thesis consists of a...

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T14:16:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luciana Costa Lima Thomaz.pdf: 4629609 bytes, checksum: e0c75ddd8fe34d9f36e7124278be8c2e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-12-09 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The traditional approach to medicine in the West was grounded on the classification of the endless human diversity in classes (complexions). With the rise of modern science, the focus of medicine gradually shifted to the physical and chemical processes proper to living matter. Consequently, the practice of medicine became dependent on the diagnosis of clinical entities, which were classified according to their etiopathogenic mechanisms, in turn dependent of biomolecular phenomena. Despite this mainstream direction, countless typological classifications burst out in the first decades of the 20th century in a wide range of contexts anthropology, criminology, psychology, education, etc. including medicine. To understand this phenomenon, this study focused on biotypological theories grounded on the assertion that there is an intrinsic relationship between human types and embryological layers, the work by Marcel Martiny (1897-1982) in particular. Analysis carried out within three overlapping spheres addressing sociohistorical, epistemological and historiographical aspects allowed identifying strong eugenic element in biotypological theory as formulated in the first half of the 20th century within the context known as medical Holism . This was also the background for Martiny, whose experimental work is restricted to anthropometric measurements that then were related with physiological and biomolecular phenomena exclusively by way of analogy. After World War I biotypological theory was depurated from all eugenic elements, whereas its lack of any empirical foundation was neglected and despite its contradictions, it is discussed even in our own days as if it were sound science / A medicina tradicionalmente vigente no Ocidente se baseava na classificação da heterogeneidade humana em diversos tipologias (compleições). Com a formulação da ciência moderna, gradualmente, a base da medicina passou a focar os fenômenos físicos e químicos que ocorrem na matéria viva. Assim, a prática clínica passa a depender do diagnóstico de entidades nosológicas, classificadas segundo seu mecanismo etiopatogênico, por sua vez, dependente de mecanismos biomoleculares. No entanto, nas primeiras décadas do século XX acontece uma explosão de classificações tipológicas numa variedade de contextos antropologia, criminologia, psicologia, pedagogia, etc. incluindo a medicina. Para abordar esse fenômeno, focou-se as teorias que afirmavam uma relação intrínseca entre as tipologias humanas e os folhetos embrionários, em particular, a obra de Marcel Martiny (1897- 1982). A análise realizada em três esferas superpostas, levando em conta aspectos histórico-sociais, epistemológicos e historiográficos, permitiu identificar fortes componentes eugenistas nas biotipologias desenvolvidas na primeira metade do séculos XX, dentro do chamado holismo médico . Esse é também o pano de fundo do trabalho de Martiny, que utiliza como método, basicamente, medições antropométricas, cuja vinculação aos fenômenos fisiológicos e biomoleculares é realizada de maneira puramente analógica. Depois da Segunda Guerra Mundial, a teoria das biotipologias foi depurada de seus elementos eugenistas, sua falta de fundamentação empírica foi omitida e, apesar de todas suas contradições, continua a ser apresentada como ciência provada em diversos contextos, especialmente, nas abordagens médicas holistas