Menatti, Laura and Bich, Leonardo and Saborido, Cristian (2022) Health and environment from adaptation to adaptivity: a situated relational account. [Preprint]

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Abstract

The definitions and conceptualizations of health and the management of healthcare have been challenged by the current global scenarios (e.g., new diseases, new geographical distribution of diseases, effects of climate change on health, etc.) and by the ongoing scholarship in humanities and science. In this paper we question the mainstream definition of health adopted by the WHO -‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (WHO, 1948) - and its role in providing tools to understand what health is in the contemporary context. More specifically, we argue that this context requires to take into account the role of the environment both in medical theory and in the healthcare practice. To do so, we analyse WHO documents dated 1984 and 1986 which define health as ‘coping with the environment’. We develop the idea of ‘coping with the environment’, by focusing on two cardinal concepts: adaptation in public health and adaptivity in philosophy of biology. We argue that the notions of adaptation and adaptivity can be of major benefit for the characterization of health, and have practical implications. We explore some of these implications by discussing two recent case studies of adaptivity in public health, which can be valuable to further develop adaptive strategies in the current pandemic scenario: community centred care and microbiologically healthier buildings.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Menatti, Laura laura.menatti@gmail.com 0000-0002-3929-6000 Bich, Leonardo leonardo.bich@ehu.es 0000-0002-2416-112X Saborido, Cristian cristian.saborido@fsof.uned.es
Additional Information:	Menatti, L., Bich, L., & Saborido, C. (2022). Health and environment from adaptation to adaptivity: a situated relational account. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (in press).
Keywords:	health, medicine, environment, adaptation, adaptivity, philosophy of medicine, environmental philosophy, philosophy of biology.
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Ecology/Conservation Specific Sciences > Climate Science and Meteorology Specific Sciences > Medicine > Health and Disease General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science Specific Sciences > Medicine
Depositing User:	Dr. Laura Menatti
Date Deposited:	31 May 2022 02:35
Last Modified:	31 May 2022 02:35
Item ID:	20693
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Ecology/Conservation Specific Sciences > Climate Science and Meteorology Specific Sciences > Medicine > Health and Disease General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science Specific Sciences > Medicine
Date:	28 May 2022
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/20693

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• Health and environment from adaptation to adaptivity: a situated relational account. (deposited 31 May 2022 02:35) [Currently Displayed]
  • Health and environment from adaptation to adaptivity: a situated relational account. (deposited 20 Aug 2022 11:05)

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