To be sure, the state of medicine today is technologically, professionally and economically different from that of eighteenth century Germany; nevertheless, a continuous, humanistic thread exists and has existed since the ars medica of antiquity. This thesis examines two closely related manifestations of this humanistic push: Karl Philipp Moritzs late eighteenth-century Erfahrungsseelenkunde or experiential (empirical) psychology, and todays narrative medicine. Until now, the historical understanding of narrative medicine has relied heavily on Freudian theories of psychology; however, I argue that Karl Philipp Moritzs theory of empirical psychology, as a predecessor to Freudian psychology, offers even more to our understanding of narrative medicine.
Naturally, the marrow of this paper will be a definition of narrative medicine and its assorted advocates as well as an in depth examination of K.P. Moritzs philosophy one which, like narrative medicine, pushes narrative understanding and capability to the forefront of the healing arts. In addition, it will include a brief appraisal of Moritzs influences from the German Enlightenment, thus further underscoring the continuity of the humanistic trend leading to narrative medicine.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-07232005-040757 |
| Date | 27 July 2005 |
| Creators | Oster, Nathanael Allen |
| Contributors | Professor Dieter Sevin, Professor John McCarthy |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-07232005-040757/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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