ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the development of modern medicine. It shows how clinical thinking and practice are connected to larger movements in the history of science in a way as to create the legacy of biomedicine and the counterrevolutions to the dominant form of thinking both inside and outside of medicine. The book describes one of the counter-revolutions, namely the turn to narrative in certain academic disciplines as well as particular professions. It also shows how patients present their problems to health care practitioners as rich and complex stories. The book discusses narratives of professionalism – stories of what it means to be a professional and how the sharing of the narratives serves to form both a collective and individual sense of professional responsibility. It also discusses the effects of narrative success and the risks of non-narrative practice.
