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VOL. 7, ISSUE 2 (2025)
The Scientization of Western Medicine and the evolution of health management paradigms: A historical and conceptual inquiry
Authors
Dr. Lung-Tan Lu
Abstract
This paper examines the transformation of
Western medicine through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, tracing how
its scientization reshaped modern health management paradigms. Drawing on the
interdisciplinary frameworks of medical history and the history of health
thought, this study analyzes the epistemological, institutional, and
sociocultural dimensions of medicine’s scientific turn and the formation of the
biomedical model. It argues that the rise of experimental medicine,
bacteriology, and public health institutionalization redefined the relationship
between health, disease, and medical intervention, shifting health management
from passive treatment to proactive prevention and from individual care to
collective governance. Yet this transformation also introduced new
dilemmas—reductionism, technological dominance, and inequity in health
resources—that continue to shape contemporary global health systems. By
integrating classical sources from Hippocrates and Galen with modern
scholarship from Engel, Porter, and Bynum, this article reconstructs the
historical logic underlying biomedical rationality and its consequences for
health management. The study concludes that transcending the biomedical model
requires embracing biopsychosocial and humanistic paradigms that reintegrate
biological, psychological, and sociocultural dimensions of health. Such a
reorientation would move medicine toward holistic health, humanistic care,
cultural inclusivity, and social justice in the twenty-first century.
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Pages:140-145
How to cite this article:
Dr. Lung-Tan Lu "The Scientization of Western Medicine and the evolution of health management paradigms: A historical and conceptual inquiry". International Journal of Medical Science and Research, Vol 7, Issue 2, 2025, Pages 140-145
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