ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that the medical sub-culture is thriving as a non-system. On our reluctance to record what people do not know, Murray Last noted that perhaps we shrink from recording ignorance in case it should sound like a failure in fieldwork, or dismissive of others. His article considers in particular the question both of a system that has broken down and of a hierarchy of systems. The chapter analyzes a system of medicine and the detail of people's knowledge: is that the truth, a snub to the intruder, or their understandable. System of medicine, alternative systems of medicine, healthcare system, and the comparative study of medical systems are familiar and convenient. Different systems might bring in diverse relationships and ideas, with different kinds of social actor, practitioner, setting, and practice think of a country or a city and, say, Kleinman's account of the health care system in Taiwan with so many sectors.
