PhD, Associate Professor E.L. Panova
I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of Ministry of Health of Russia, Moscow

The study considers the theoretical and practical approaches to the modern health conceptions. Objective of the study was to analyse the basic interpretations of health as phenomenon in the national and foreign medicinal philosophy that are the nominalism and realism. The nominalistic approach assumes the notions of ‘health’ and ‘pathology’ being provisional enough as descriptions of some health statuses. This research interpretation has been supported by some British and American experts in medicinal philosophy and bio-ethics including S. Holm, T. Engelhardt, K. Boud, R.S. Dauny and I.V. Davydovsky, a prominent national pathologist. Proponents of this research approach argue that the modern biology forming a practical foundation for medicine tends to rate as ‘normal’ quite a wide range of provisionally healthy and pathological bodily conditions and functions. This means that the ‘healthy’ and ‘pathological’ conditions are rated rather by one or another values system than some objective biological criteria. The realistic or functionality-based approach assumes that ‘health’ and ‘disease’ mean the objective physical and/or mental conditions and refer to the qualitatively different human health statuses defined by the specific bodily or mental functionality disorders plus locations (locus morbi) of the disease as the key distinguishing criteria for the both notions. This research approach is supported by K. Burs and some Soviet researchers including D.S. Sarkisov, М.А. Paltsev, N.K. Khitrov, A.D. Ado, V.P. Petlenko et al.

Keywords: health, disease, medicinal philosophy, method, human.

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