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Physicians think they are doing something for you by labeling what you have as a disease
Immanuel Kant
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote suggests that physicians may mistakenly believe they are helping patients by diagnosing illnesses, but this labeling can be misleading.

Immanuel Kant critiques the medical profession's tendency to define conditions merely as diseases. He implies that by labeling patients with diseases, physicians may overlook the complexities of individual experiences and wellness, reducing people to mere categories and potentially hindering holistic understanding and treatment.

Themes

DiseasePhysiciansLabelingHealthPhilosophy

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the medical profession at a health conference.

More from Immanuel Kant

Physicians think they do a lot for a patient when they give his disease a name.
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One cannot avoid a certain feeling of disgust, when one observes the actions of man displayed on the great stage of the world. Wisdom is manifested by individuals here and there; but the web of human history as a whole appears to be woven from folly and childish vanity, often, too, from puerile wickedness and love of destruction: with the result that at the end one is puzzled to know what idea to form of our species which prides itself so much on its advantages.
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I shall never forget my mother, for it was she who planted and nurtured the first seeds of good within me. She opened my heart to the lasting impressions of nature; she awakened my understanding and extended my horizon and her percepts exerted an everlasting influence upon the course of my life.
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. . . as to moral feeling, this supposed special sense, the appeal to it is indeed superficial when those who cannot think believe that feeling will help them out, even in what concerns general laws: and besides, feelings which naturally differ infinitely in degree cannot furnish a uniform standard of good and evil, nor has any one a right to form judgments for others by his own feelings. . . .
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Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
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