Risch Andreas.pdf - Osteopathic Research

1 Introduction
The questions „What is health? What is illness?“, are challenging the philosophical,
scientific and professional concepts of osteopaths.
Osteopathic thought, speech and practice is influenced by the philosophical
principals which are laid down by A.T. Still, J.M. Littlejohn and W.S. Sutherland and
their students. In osteopathic literature abstract and complex terms like health are
expressed mainly by metaphors. Osteopathic language seems to be one of the major
problems (Liem et al., 2008), especially the conceptualization of basic terminology
like health and illness through metaphors in thinking, speaking and acting.
In osteopathic literature, there are many metaphors for health, e.g.: HEALTH AS
PERFECTION AND HARMONY (Still), HEALTH AS FLUID LIGHT (Sutherland),
BREATH OF LIFE (Sutherland), LIVING PRINCIPLE IN A LIVING BODY (Becker),
HEALTH AS WHOLENESS (Jealous), HEALTH AS FLOWING WATER (Baumeler)
etc.
The metaphor is defined by the two cognitive linguists, Lakoff and Johnson, in the
following way: „The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind
of things in term of another“ (Lakoff/Johnson, 1980). A conceptual metaphor is
consequently the experience and understanding of one aspect of reality through
another (Schmitt, 1995). As a rule, we normally use a familiar, concrete and culturally
embedded treasure of experience in order to grasp an abstract content which is
difficult to comprehend. (Schiefer, 2005).
In her study with thematically structured interviews, Schachtner shows how medical
practice is constituted on the basis of metaphors. This includes how doctors reach
their diagnosis, what medical decisions they make and how they form the physicianpatient
relationship (Schachtner, 1999).
As Lakoff/Johnson have pointed out the aspect of „Hiding and Highlighting“ of
metaphors (Lakoff/Johnson, 1980), other authors (Rijn van Tongeren, 1997 u.
Schiefer, 2005) also critically refer to the important circumstance, that metaphors