Introduction

There is the story of a young man who was cautioned by a policeman for his exuberant behaviour. The young man suggested (with what colourfulness of language history does not relate) that the policeman was being over-zealous. The policeman then said, ‘You have an attitude problem’, whereupon the young man (doubtless a student) replied, ‘You have a perception problem’. We will not comment on the relevance of this anecdote to the Government’s Anti-social Behaviour Orders, but it is highly relevant to the themes of this book. It will be our central contention that the humanities can contribute to the ethical improvement of health care in two main ways: by improving the attitudes of professionals, and by widening their perceptions. The humanities can also perform a similar function with respect to our perceptions of and attitudes to our own health. Let us explain.