The Significance of the Body in Health Professions Education

The human body holds much significance—it is one thing we share in common. As a biological organism, the body has long been an object of scientific investigations, medical objectification, and scientific discourse. It is, however, much more. In this chapter, we discuss the symbolic, aesthetic, sexual and scientific nature of the body. The body holds significance for individuals in the way that it can be owned or disowned, the latter often associated with illness. Further, it is both self and other, object and subject—and, thus, holds a number of binary oppositions. Within this chapter we explore the links between the body and philosophy, such as bodily awareness and myness, highlighting pertinent considerations for both contemporary curriculum development and clinical practice. Within health, the default is to view the body through a scientific lens, as an object. Alternatively, we highlight the importance of the lived body (e.g., the foot hurts versus my foot hurts), the complexities between body as subject/object (e.g., in diagnosing another's body), and the problems with a scientific view (whiteness, gender bias).