1. Articulate the difference between objective and subjective approaches to the physical body.

Section 1 > Exercise 3 > Choose an organ

Choose an organ/body part from the image on this page. Write a short creative reflection on the body part in the accompanying photograph, or an interpretive essay of the body part if you have chosen a poem. Doctors or nurses may refer to a patient as 'the gall bladder' or by hospital room number. Why do they do that? In fact, medical personnel are not the only ones who reduce people to objects. Read the following definition (you may remember it from your high school English class) and answer the discussion questions below. Be sure to note the links to the clinical correlates for ear, uterus and knee at the bottom of this page.

syn·ec·do·che   (s -n k d -k ) n.

A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).

Discussion Questions 1. Do we think of our body parts as isolated entities? 2. Do they represent something more than just the part? How do they fit into the whole? 3. What value is there in isolating an organ or body part from the rest of the body? What are the downsides? (You might relate these last questions to that fact that our medical specialities focus on single organ systems). Clinical Correlate #3: Otitis Media Clinical Correlate #4: Hysterectomy Clinical Correlate #5: Osteoarthritis of the knee