phenomenologyphilosophy-of-sciencemedicinehermeneutics
Patrick Heelan
Philosopher of science (1926–2015) whose hermeneutic-phenomenological account of scientific interpretation supplies the diagnostic vocabulary that Heinbokel adopts for redescribing scientific medicine within Merleau-Pontian expression theory. The wiki's only present anchor is Heelan's chapter "The Lifeworld and Scientific Interpretation" in S. Kay Toombs' Handbook of Phenomenology and Medicine (Dordrecht: Springer, 2001), pp. 47–66, cited substantively by Heinbokel 2021 in its Conclusions section.
Key Points
- The "received view" of scientific medical research (Heelan 2001: 48): a description that "begins in the life-world and ends in a meaningful construction about the life-world that takes the form of an ideal representation model of Nature." The structure is bridged by what Heelan calls the "mirroring postulate" — a postulate of the same kind as the one supposed to link geometry to the life-world: "Just as geometrical objects float, as it were, off the page or blackboard and take their place in the ideal realm of the Mind, so too do scientific models or theories." The mirroring postulate is the target Heinbokel argues against in re-integrating science into MP's theory of expression as coherent deformation.
- Scientific traditions as styles: Heelan's 2001 chapter (per Heinbokel's note 17) catalogs how theories of scientific progress have characterised traditions of scientific interpretation — "thought styles" (Fleck, Duden), "paradigms" (T. S. Kuhn), "styles of scientific thinking" (Crombie). This catalog functions in Heinbokel's argument as meta-evidence that the philosophy-of-science tradition has already characterised scientific traditions in ways structurally compatible with MP's coherent-deformation reading.
- Metaphor in scientific predication: Heelan note 18 (per Heinbokel's note 18): "perceptual space is assumed to be modeled by Euclidean geometry, colors by electromagnetic wavelengths, sounds by pitch and loudness, and syphilis by a positive Wassermann Test, when all such predications are no more than metaphors apart from the collaboration of the human senses, language, and cultural environment" (Heelan 2001: 60). Heinbokel uses this as evidence that metaphor is fundamental to scientific discourse — a thesis that supports the corollary "metaphor becomes fundamental for scientific discourse" in Heinbokel's Conclusions.
- Ingestion status: Heelan 2001 is not presently in
raw/. The wiki's engagement is entirely mediated by Heinbokel's quotations.
Connections
- cited by Heinbokel 2021 as the diagnostic vocabulary for the "received view of science" and "mirroring postulate"
- contributes the foil for science-as-coherent-deformation — the postulate Heelan identifies is the structural counterpart to MP's "classical perspective in painting," and the redescription of science as coherent deformation is what frees it from this postulate
- not yet engaged primarily on the wiki — Heelan 2001 is a deferred-ingest candidate
Sources
- heinbokel-2021-johann-to-maurice — quotes Heelan 2001: 48 (the "received view" / "mirroring postulate" description) and references notes 17 ("thought styles / paradigms / styles of scientific thinking" catalog) and 18 ("metaphor in scientific predication"). The wiki's only present anchor for Heelan's thought.