Philosophy of Health Sciences (DHV100)
This course aims at an advanced understanding of philosophy of health sciences for researchers by examining the epistemic and ethical conditions of caring for the health of another. The course proceeds from the practice of dialogue as the ultimate foundation of caregiver and caretaker alike (whether patient or relative), namely a conversation through which the story co-authored by caretaker and caregiver becomes the basis for health care, and thus also a fundamental condition for the empirical fields the researcher in health sciences and medicine meets. Even the most remote statistical, experimental or laboratory research is intelligible only on the assumption that it ultimately refers to a mutual understanding of healthcare between a caregiver and a caretaker. The course probes the researcher into some of the dialogical conditions of mutually, openly and respectfully listening and talking towards greater understanding of healthcare in particular cases.
How people tell the story of needed care assumes what humans are and how they become known. The course continues with an exploration of what research on human cognitive and emotive abilities assumes and implies in the context of healthcare. It focuses on various understandings of humans in terms of consciousness, intentionality and language, and how such understandings affect the way the researcher conceives of the object of health research. It clarifies knowledge, belief, sensation, perception, memory, thinking, and imagination as well as emotions, affections, appetites, attitudes and agitations. The aim of the course is here to further the candidate's self-knowledge as researcher and her/his knowledge of caretakers in the context of advanced research on healthcare.
The practice of healthcare also grounds how caregivers and caretakers should act. It is only in the story that caretaker and caregiver tell together, that particular actions and courses of action can be adequately understood and evaluated, since that narrative precedes, shapes and justifies the being and becoming of the caretaker in the hands of the caregiver. For instance, the narrative articulates the relationship of caretaker and caregiver to each other, to the common good of health and to the institutions through which power and money are distributed. However, the morality peculiar to the modern western world, tell caretakers and caregivers to conceive of themselves as consumers and producers, which may conflict with the practice of how one should receive and give healthcare. This part of the course therefore enables the researcher to critically understand and evaluate the ethics of health sciences in the context of the dialogical narrative of desire and deliberation of situated individual caregivers and caretakers
Course description for study year 2024-2025
Course code
DHV100
Version
1
Credits (ECTS)
10
Semester tution start
Spring
Number of semesters
1
Exam semester
Spring
Language of instruction
English
Content
Learning outcome
The following learning outcomes will be achieved by the PhD candidate on completion of the course:
Knowledge
The PhD candidate will:
- achieve collaborative knowledge of dialogue and narrative in healthcare research.
- achieve advanced knowledge of the cognitive, cogitative and emotive abilities of human beings.
- achieve advanced knowledge of the ethics involved in healthcare research.
Skills
By the end of the course, the PhD candidate will be able to:
- address the complex conditions of dialogue and narrative in healthcare in relation to an ongoing research project.
- investigate human cognitive, cogitative and emotive abilities in relation to an ongoing research project.
- critically understand and evaluate the different senses of desiring and deliberating about healthcare in the context of advanced modernity in relation to an ongoing research project.
General competence
By the end of the course, the PhD candidate will be able to:
- identify relevant challenges in co-authoring narratives of healthcare as a researcher.
- express a refined understanding of her/his own thoughts and feelings as well as those of caretakers.
- assess potentially conflicting notions of desire and deliberation in healthcare ethics.
Required prerequisite knowledge
Exam
| Form of assessment | Weight | Duration | Marks | Aid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| An individual paper | 1/1 | Passed / Not Passed |
An individual paper of 5000 words (+/- 10%) in English on a self-chosen topic approved by the professor and connected to the researcher's ongoing project in the health sciences. The paper must be submitted within six weeks after the end of the course and will be evaluated as Pass/Fail.
Coursework requirements
- Submission of a 200-300 word abstract of your course paper reflecting on the fundamental concepts of your research. For instance, ask yourself: how does my research fundamentally conceive human beings and their care? How clear are those concepts to me (and my subject area)? What happens with empirical research if fundamental concepts are not clear? How can you clarify them? This is to be sent to the professor one week ahead of the first course week.
- Mandatory and active participation in lectures and dialogues.
- Submission of a draft of the course paper one week ahead of the second course week and presentation of it in a seminar during the second course week.
