Ingmar Pörn

Health and adaptedness

The purpose of this paper is to give an explication of the concept of health which does not rely on the concept of disease. The explication is informed by a view of the human individual as an acting subject and it therefore places the abilities of agents in the centre. Abilities may be qualified in different ways. The qualification essential for understanding the dimension of health and illness relates abilities to environmental circumstances and high-ranking projects in the life plan. For this purpose generalized adaptedness is introduced as the overarching construction. The dimension of health and illness is characterized in terms of the adequacy of the repertoire for generalized adaptedness. Some immediate consequences concerning the notion of care are noted.

An Equilibrium Model of Health

In my contribution to this volume I try to tackle the characterization problem for health and some related issues. I am concerned to find a solution to this problem which is based on well-established distinctions and on models that have been shown to be viable. An important, relevant element of this sort is the distinction between systems of actuality and systems of ideality. In order to introduce this distinction let us follow Wertheimer ([8], pp. 88–92) and consider a law to the effect that anything which has a property P also has a property Q, and we assume next that a counter-instance to the law has been found, i.e., an object which has P but lacks Q.

A motivational approach to confirmation: An interpretation of dysphagic patients' experiences

In this paper we articulate confirmation and disconfirmation as components in human motivation. We develop a theory of motivation on the basis of a model of human action and we explore aspects of confirmation and disconfirmation in the context of the meeting of dysphagic patients with their physicians. We distinguish four central elements in confirmation and disconfirmation and use these and the relations between them for the purpose of constructing a typology. Finally, on the basis of the results obtained we interpret a small volume of remarks reflecting the meaning field of some dysphagic patients in relation to their physicians. The underlying motive is to develop tools for understanding health care processes. The “SAUC-Confirmation-Model” and the theoretical framework in which it is embedded should be seen from that point of view.

On the Nature of a Social Order

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the nature of a social order. The chapter discusses three categories: control, influence, and normative regulation. Control is a matter of what an agent does in relation to another agent; influence a matter of what an agent can do in relation to another; and normative regulation a matter of what an agent shall or may do in relation to another. Control and influence may be “combined”. Control may be defined in relation to an agent with respect to his influence positions and, conversely, his influence in relation to an agent with respect to his control positions. Studies shows that work in these areas are important for the understanding of the foundations of social science. There is a close structural affinity between act positions and normative positions.

Kierkegaard and the study of the self

A fundamental ingredient in Kierkegaards conception of the self is the idea that ‘the self is a relation which relates itself to its own self’. Kierkegaard makes much of this, and understanding the idea furnishes the reader with a key to the interpretation of central themes in his writings. It can also inform and enrich more modern versions of the same idea. For my own part I have found in Kierkegaards conception a source of insights concerning a notion of the self that is articulated in action‐theoretical terms. In this paper I shall first delineate this notion, without references to Kierkegaard; and then, when the notion has been introduced, in outline, I shall bring in some of Kierkegaards ideas in The Sickness unto Death (SuD). I hope thereby to illustrate one way in which I think Kierkegaard can be seen as a contributor to a field in development, namely the study of the self.

On the logic of adverbs

In the paper I investigate aspects of adverbial modification as an operation applying an adverb or adverbial phrase to a predicate and thereby creating a new predicate. The logic of adverbial modification, on this view, belongs to the logic of predicate modifiers. The theory I present is intended to cover not only adverbial modification but also attributive modification, but problems concerning the latter will not be given any special attention.

Genetic information and care

According to Gelehrter and Collins (1990, p. 270), screening tests “are an essential part of standard medical care and are generally directed at early diagnosis of treatable diseases”. They go on to say: Sometimes screening tests and diagnostic tests are the same; more frequently, however, the screening test is aimed at identifying a subset of the population in whom more specific diagnostic tests should be performed. (loc. cit.).

Comments on Sadegh-Zadeh’s ‘a Pragmatic Concept of Causal Explanation’

There seem to be two main types of views on how to solve the characterization problem for scientific explanations. There are those — we might call them logicists — who proceed from the deductive-nomological model of Hempel and Oppenheim and construe scientific explanation as a two-place deducibility relation between explanandum and explanans, the latter being subdivided into a set of laws and a set of antecedent conditions. In the opposing camp we find pragmatists of various kinds. Some pragmatists are favourably disposed towards the deductive-nomological model but try to supplement it by supplying a pragmatic setting in the form of relativizing factors such as an explainer, an explainee, a context of inquiry, a conceptual system, and so on.