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Illness and Time

This paper attempts to establish the appropriateness of the question: "Does it make sense to conceive of illness as a phenomenon that transcends categories of representation?" A correspondence between the phenomena of representation and spatialization can be identified. Representation in this sense is the definition of a pathway that allows for chronological reference, in which a certain phenomenon is presented. We consider the paradigm that defines the Anatomical-Clinical domain and Epidemiology as a form of representation or spatialization of illness. We conclude that it is possible to approach the process called "becoming ill", which trancends anatomical-clinical and epidemiological representation, provided that we admit the possibility of constructing knowledge beyond space, i.e., in non-chronological time.

Time Factors; Disease; Medical Philosophy


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