Medical Humanities Minor
As a minor in the medical humanities, you will approach health, disease and medical care as culturally embedded human experiences that vary across time and place. You will explore health, disease, and medical care as core human experiences, the program of study is designed to provide a solid grounding in the textual-historical approach essential to the humanities. You will emerge from the minor able to apply the insights and critical methods of literature, philosophy, history and the arts to subjects often left solely to the natural and social sciences. This minor is housed in the Center for the Humanities.
sample courses:
This course examines issues surrounding women's health care in America. While the scope is broad, the major emphasis will be on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through an examination of popular writing, scientific/medical writing, letters, diaries, and fiction, we will look at the changing perceptions and conceptions of women's bodies and health in America.
A critical examination, in the light of contemporary moral disagreements and traditional ethical theories, of some of the moral issues arising out of medical practice and experimentation in our society. Issues that might be discussed include euthanasia, genetic engineering, organ transplants, medical malpractice, the allocation of medical resources, and the rights of the patient.
