Minding the body: Rhetorical imagination in the health care crisis

This study analyzes the rhetorical discourse of three prominent paradigms of healing in contemporary American culture: biomedicine, mindbody medicine, and ecomedicine. By analyzing metaphors with which these paradigms conceptualize the body, disease, and healing, it traces the broader culture values that structure each of these paradigms and their resulting practices. The study argues that biomedicine is structured by the concepts and values of productivity. Mindbody medicine is structured by the concepts and values of democratic community. Ecomedicine is structured by both ecological and spiritual concepts and values and poses a critique of the other two paradigms. Moreover, the study argues that the relationships among these paradigms reflect deeper political and ethical tensions in American culture. The study also argues that the current debate over health care reform should expand to consider the rhetorical and cultural issues raised by this analysis. It concludes by suggesting ways in which public health policy could be changed to reflect the principles of each paradigm.