Book part:

Äskulap im Wandel: Konzepte von Gesundheit und Krankheit

Regardless of their increasing relevance in contemporary social discourse, binding definitions for crucial concepts such as health and illness are either continuously contested or absent altogether. This paper highlights central concepts of health and illness in the 20th century in order to argue that the ascription of health or illness is subject to constant change. Health and illness are thus historically and culturally complex terms that are interpreted differently by each scientific discipline. They must further be considered as individual phenomena, encompassed by intersubjectively varying perceptions. In recent decades, a development from a biomedical model based on natural sciences to a holistically oriented biopsychosocial model has nonetheless emerged.