Toward a theory of human disease.

The importance of the idea of human disease is revealed by the attention that it receives in both the social and biological sciences. It is striking, thus, that despite its certrality and fundamental relevance to an understanding of man and his social institutions, no theory which exclusively addresses human disease has been developed. The purpose of this paper is to set forth a preliminary outline of a theory of human disease. In the paper, an exploratory approach is followed. That is, the requirements of and problem areas which a theory of disease should explain are touched on. The material draws from literature in both the social and biological sciences. Some attempt is made to link the material to contemporary questions in these fields.