Sob a sombra do patológico: Sujeito e verdade no adoecer

Abstract

This article analyzes primary sources from the tradition of "medicine of the soul," which deals with the experience of getting sick. Inspired by Georges Canguilhem, the notions of health and disease that were available before the development of modern specializations are examined in order to show that falling ill and the emotions related to this process are actually consequences of being alive. The author concludes that the ancient definition of human as vulnerable to suffering has close similarities with the pathological subject, which is conceived in today's field of fundamental psychopathology. © 2009 Associação Universitária de Pesquisa em Psicopatologia Fundamental/University Association for Research in Fundamental Psychopathology.