Public health as a social science: reflections on the possibility of a comprehensive public health
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.rfnsp.7671Keywords:
public health, epistemology, comprehension, social sciencesAbstract
Close historic relationships between medicine and public health have implied, as a consequence for the latter, the inheritance of epistemological traits traditionally characteristic of a positivistic conception of science on which a major part of the theoretical development of modern medicine has been supported. From the point of view of this ontological, epistemological and methodological reference of positivism, health has been reduced to deterministic, linear and causalistic explanations that systematically cancel any reference to the lifeworld (Lebenswelt), both for the researcher and for the “objects” of research. The scientific pretensions of public health have become protruding over its political and ethical commitment, even widening the gap between scientific knowledge and the specific conditions of existence of social actors and their relation to health. This paper presents some reflections around the conditions of possibility for a comprehensive approach of public health problems. These reflections are based on a conception of health as a social phenomenon, that is to say, as an emergent element from the complex web of intersubjective relationships among social actors, in a specific social and historic horizon. Epistemological, ethical and political implications of this perspective for research in public health are also discussed.
Downloads
References
(1). Mardones JM. Filosofía de las ciencias humanas y sociales: Materiales para una fundamentación científica. 2ª ed. España: Anthropos; 2003.
(2). Breilh J. Epidemiología crítica: ciencia emancipadora e interculturalidad. Argentina: Lugar Editorial; 2003.
(3). Granda E. El saber en salud pública en un ámbito de pérdida de antropocentrismo y ante una visión de equilibrio ecológico. Rev Fac Nac Salud Pública 2008; 26:65-90.
(4). Martínez M. El proceso de nuestro conocer postula un nuevo paradigma epistémico. Rev. Relea 2000; 11:15-36.
(5). Cardona A, Franco A. La Salud Pública como disciplina científica: fundamento para los programas de formación académica. Rev Fac Nac Salud Pública 2005; 23(2):107-114.
(6). González ER. La salud pública como campo transdisciplinar. Rev Fac Nac Salud Pública 2007; 25(1):71-77.
(7). Kuhn T. La estructura de las revoluciones científicas. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica; 1980.
(8). Cardona A, Sierra Varela R, Serrano Caballero L, Agudelo Acevedo F. Cadáveres, Cementerios y Salud Pública en el Virreinato de Nueva Granada. Medellín: Universidad de Antioquia; 2008.
(9). Schütz A. El problema de la realidad social. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu; 1974.
(10). Gadamer HG. Verdad y método II. Salamanca: Sígueme; 1992.
(11). Habermas J. Teoría de la acción comunicativa. México: Taurus; 2002.
(12). Guiddens A. Las nuevas reglas del método sociológico. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu; 1987.
(13). Heisenberg W. Más allá de la física. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos; 1974.
(14). Hernández F. LJ. ¿Qué es Salud Pública basada en la Evidencia? Rev. Salud Pública 2003; 5(1):40-45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0036-36342003001000015
(15). Gadamer HG. Verdad y método I. Salamanca: Sígueme; 1977.
(16). Foucault M. Hermenéutica del sujeto. Madrid: La Piqueta; 1994.
(17). Descartes R. Meditaciones metafísicas. Madrid: Alfaguara; 1977.
(18). Habermas J. Conocimiento e interés. 3ª ed. Medellín: Paidos; 1997.
(19). López MC. La aplicación Gadameriana de la phrónesis a la praxis. Contrastes 2001; 6:79-98.
(20). Guba E, Lincoln Y. Paradigmas en competencia en Investigación Cualitativa. En: Denman C, Haro J, editors. Por los Rincones: Antología de métodos cualitativos en investigación social. México: El Colegio de Sonora; 2000. p. 117-145.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Diego A. Restrepo O.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The contents of the articles are the responsibility of the authors
The editorial committee has editorial independence from the National School of Public Health "Héctor Abad Gómez" of the University of Antioquia.
The editorial committee is not responsible for aspects related to copying, plagiarism or fraud that may appear in the articles published in it.
When you are going to reproduce and disclose photographs or personal data in printed or digital format, informed consent is required. Therefore, this requirement is required of the author at the time of receipt of the manuscript.
Authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions to reproduce any material protected by reproduction rights.
The authors preserve the moral rights and assign the economic rights that will correspond to the University of Antioquia, to publish it, distribute electronic copies, include them in indexing services, directories or national and international databases in Open Access, under the Creative Commons Attribution license -Not Commercial-Share Equal 4.0 International Commercial (CC BY-NC-SA) which allows others to distribute, remix, retouch, and create from the work in a non-commercial way, as long as the respective credit and license are granted. new creations under the same conditions.
The authors will sign the declaration of transfer of economic rights to the University of Antioquia, after the acceptance of the manuscript.
The editorial committee reserves the right to reject the articles whose authors do not offer satisfactory explanations about the contribution of each author, to meet the criteria of authorship in the submission letter. All authors must meet the four criteria of authorship according to ICMJE: "a) .- That there is a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the article or to the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of the data. b) That they have participated in the design of the research work or in the critical review of its intellectual content. c) .- That has been intervened in the approval of the final version that will be published.d). That they have the capacity to respond to all aspects of the article in order to ensure that issues related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are adequately investigated and resolved. "
-- 
--
