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James Mackenzie, General Practitioner: a modest contribution to the archaeology of clinical reason
Author(s) -
Osborne Thomas
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9566.ep11373474
Subject(s) - rationality , michel foucault , sociology , work (physics) , epistemology , medical practice , actor–network theory , psychoanalysis , social science , psychology , medicine , philosophy , medical education , law , politics , political science , engineering , mechanical engineering
This paper focuses on the work of the influential general practitioner and heart specialist, James Mackenzie (1853–1925), and seeks to reconstruct ‐ using some of the perspectives broadly associated with actor‐network theory as well as Michel Foucault's work on clinical medicine ‐ the epistemological rationality of his medical programme as a particular kind of network of knowledge. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of some of the implications of this analysis both for the sociological study of medical knowledge, and for our contemporary ideals of medical practice.