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VOL. 11, ISSUE 2 (2025)
Medical transformation and the reconstruction of health concepts in the nineteenth century
Authors
Dr. Lung-Tan Lu
Abstract
The nineteenth century marked a pivotal turning point in the history of
medicine. Emerging from Enlightenment rationalism, medical understanding
underwent a fundamental epistemological restructuring—shifting from an
organ-centric framework to a cellular-level paradigm—thereby redefining health
from a "machine-repair" model to a "system-governance"
concept. Employing historical document analysis, this study examines how
Enlightenment rationalism laid the theoretical groundwork for pathological
anatomy, how microscopic technology facilitated the birth of cell theory, and
how Rudolf Virchow’s "body-as-nation" metaphor reshaped the logic of
defining health and disease. The research argues that the nineteenth-century
medical revolution not only achieved technical breakthroughs in pathology and
cytology but also realized an intellectual advancement from vague holism to
sophisticated systems theory in the philosophy of health. Its core achievement
lies in establishing "cellular order" as the theoretical prototype of
"health order," laying the ideological foundation for the principles
of "prevention first" and "holistic governance" in modern
health management. Furthermore, this transformation restructured the roles of
physicians and patients: physicians evolved from passive repairers to
"governors of life systems," while patients became "self-managers"
responsible for maintaining their own cellular order.
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Pages:33-39
How to cite this article:
Dr. Lung-Tan Lu "Medical transformation and the reconstruction of health concepts in the nineteenth century". National Journal of Advanced Research, Vol 11, Issue 2, 2025, Pages 33-39
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