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Paper short abstract:

The present paper examines what exactly future Greek doctors could learn from anthropologists’ understandings of the ‘‘process of personal historisation’’ with the ultimate goal of looking into the possible ways in which the cutural logic of empathy could be ingrained into the biomedical ethos.

Paper long abstract:

Anthropological theory asserts that the recognition of the cultural dimension of subjective experiences of illness and health could serve as a decisive therapeutic tool in helping doctors understand what counts most to a subject when a serious illness threatens not only their biological dimension, but also the very meaning of their existence. Nevertheless, our research has shown that the majority of Greek biomedical personnel found it hard to believe that feelings of trust and familiarity could help patients find the courage to face pain and reconstruct the vital details of their life-story.

At least until recently, as the universal threat of Covid-19 and its special protocols of hospitalization emphatically brought the value of the anthropological necessity for empathy to the forefront, having forced Greek doctors and medical personnel not only to unconsciously feel, but also to consciously attempt to subvert the agonizing sense of the patient’s other side through their sentimental presence and logos by the patients’ bedside, as it seems that in this instance they were forced to recognize the mutual human story of pain and death.

From this aspect, drawing from phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the focus of the present paper is to examine what exactly future Greek doctors could learn from anthropologists’ understandings of the ‘‘process of personal historisation’’ (Davis 2000: 110) with the ultimate goal of looking into the possible ways in which the cultural logic of empathy could be ingrained into the biomedical ethos.