Szczeliny i pogranicza
The enigma of health or the incompatibility of nature and culture according to Hans-Georg Gadamer
The present analysis and interpretation relate to Hans-Georg Gadamer’s book The Enigma of Health, a seemingly surprising choice of subject matter for this prominent thinker. In fact, there is no surprise considering how he approached and practised hermeneutic philosophy. In this concept, disease “forces itself” on us, while health “hides itself”, which related to the structure of our being in the world. A reflection on the changing historical experience of humanity requires new light to be shed on the relation between philosophy and medicine, and a particular deliberation on how the latter handles the relations between theory and practice, and between theory and technology. The outcome offered by hermeneutics, drawing on philosophy of life, is a deepened understanding of medicine with a characteristic expression of the relation between nature and culture.