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The Humanities in Medical Education: Ways of Knowing, Doing and Being

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Abstract

The personhood of the physician is a crucial element in accomplishing the goals of medicine. We review claims made on behalf of the humanities in guiding professional identity formation. We explore the dichotomy that has evolved, since the Renaissance, between the humanities and the natural sciences. The result of this evolution is an historic misconstrual, preoccupying educators and diverting them from the moral development of physicians. We propose a curricular framework based on the recovery of Aristotelian concepts that bridge identity and activity. The humanities and the natural sciences, jointly and severally, can fulfill developmental, characterological and instrumental purposes.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Boudreau is an Arnold P. Gold Foundation Associate Professor of Medicine, and he wishes to recognize the foundation’s financial support during the period that the manuscript was conceived. We thank Professors Al Miller, Maria Miller, Irene Gammel and Faith Wallis for their critical review of early drafts of the manuscript. We are deeply appreciative of the thoughtful editorial advice provided so frequently and offered so graciously by Sylvia Fuks Fried of Brandeis University.

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  1. Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    J. Donald Boudreau & Abraham Fuks

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  1. J. Donald Boudreau
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Correspondence to J. Donald Boudreau.

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Boudreau, J.D., Fuks, A. The Humanities in Medical Education: Ways of Knowing, Doing and Being. J Med Humanit 36, 321–336 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-014-9285-5

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