Abstract
This paper considers some of the potential implications for an interest in health of the basic fact that to live is to have been given something in advance. It is suggested that various thinkers such as Alfred Adler, Sartre, and Heidegger are unable to develop a positive attitude toward this fact and therefore are not logically in a position to be committed to health. An alternative to all of these is found in Hannah Arendt's notion that activity is an essential part of life. Following her lead, the paper moves on to a consideration of various forms of human activity, labor, work, and finally action both in terms of how they constitute an advance over the givens of life and how they contribute to health.
Similar content being viewed by others
Biblography
Adler, A.: 1918, The Neurotic Constitution, Kegan Paul, London.
Arendt, H.: 1958, The Human Condition, University of Chicago Press, New York.
Beckett, S.: 1954, Waiting for Godot, Grove Press, New York.
Dubos, R.: 1959, The Mirage of Health, Harper and Row, New York.
Freud, S.: 1957, ‘On the history of psychoanalysis’, in Complete Works, Vol. XIV, Hogarth Press, London.
Heidegger, M.: 1962, Being and Time, Basil Blackwell, London.
Sartre, J. P.: 1965, Nausea, trans. R. Baldick, Penguin, London.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Raffel, S. Health and life. Theor Med Bioeth 6, 153–164 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00489660
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00489660