In the operating room, patients can become physically present but experientially and ontologically overlooked—their subjectivity lost under anesthesia and their recognition as persons of moral worth eroded by drapes, protocols, and clinical shorthand. This philosophical reflection draws on René Descartes' Meditations and Carl Rogers' humanistic psychology to examine how Cartesian dualism has fostered depersonalizing tendencies in biomedicine and how Rogers' principles of empathy, authenticity, and unconditional positive regard can reframe ethical care in surgery. The paper distinguishes necessary clinical objectivity from harmful detachment, reconceptualizes the anesthetized patient as morally present despite unconsciousness, and reframes the surgical team as a therapeutic environment where patient dignity is upheld. Integrating Rogers' philosophy deepens technical precision with moral clarity, positioning surgery as a profoundly moral encounter.
Anomalous monism, a theory proposed by Donald Davidson in the 1970s, offers a non-reductionist way to understand the mind-body relationship, asserting physicalism without reducing mental phenomena to physical laws. This paper applies anomalous monism's three principles to explore the origin of mental illness and uses supervenience theory to explain comorbidity among mental illnesses. The argument suggests that mental illness and its comorbidities can be understood through a framework that respects both physical causation and the irreducibility of mental states.
This philosophical article proposes non-essentialist definitions of pain and suffering. Pain is described in neurological terms but is decisively influenced by cognitive awareness, interpretation, behavioral dispositions, and cultural and educational factors. Suffering is defined as an unpleasant or anguishing experience that severely affects a person at a psychophysical and existential level. The definitions avoid claiming that pain and suffering necessarily attack or expand the self; both perspectives can be useful but are not defining features. Including the existential dimension highlights suffering's relevance to life and attachment to the world.