Health concepts in current science-oriented discourse

Abstract

This article analyzes health as a concept in some science-oriented discourses by representative authors of functional sociology, anthropology and epistemology, by focusing their notions of illness and procedures. In the field of sociology, the ideas of normality, labeling, and deviation from labeling patterns stand out. Additionally, we present the main health models in North American health anthropology and evaluate the proposition of a new perspective that intends to overcome the duality between culture and society - the theory of signal, meaning and practice systems. We also analyze the Canguilhemian difference between normality and health, as well as the notion of health as normative capacity. Finally, we propose the distinctive concepts of primary, secondary and tertiary health as the first step of a theoretical construction that can guide health policies and social procedures based on a positive notion of health.