ABSTRACT
There has been considerable debate in recent years surrounding the concept of disease. There has been debate about what this concept refers to, with some arguing that it is an entity that, in paradigm cases, invades the body, whereas others have argued that it is a holistic state of an organism involving internal disharmony or a dysfunctional mode of interaction with the biological and lived environment. The dispute that the author focuses on in this chapter is that between those who see the concept of disease as neutral or objective and those who see it as value-laden; the dispute between 'naturalism' on the one hand, and 'normativism' on the other. In order to understand value and its relation to illness and disease, the author explores the notion of subjectivity. Treating the patient as a person involves being aware of the levels of subjectivity that constitute that personhood.
