Alienation and the production of strangers: Western medical epistemology and the architectonics of the body. An historical perspective

Abstract

A critical history of the architectonics of the Western body and the scientific methodologies which underlay its construction in late seventeenth England offers insight into current experiences of alienation and estrangement on the part of a substantial number of patients and health-care providers. The bodily architectonics outlined formed normative personae that continue to shape a number of medical and social discourses. This essay outlines some features of this bodily architecture and summarizes some of the factors that helped shape its historical formation. Discussion then moves to consideration of those who opposed the new formulations and/or methods, and finally suggests some ways in which this bodily architecture remains both current and problematic today.