Philosophy and the Science of Health

By Dr. Sc. Gergana Apostolova

This is an unusual field of philosophical investigation, since it is directed to the search of texts, created by philosophers, and discussing the subject of the health of the human individual from the point of view of direct care for the physical health. However, the motivation of such study has gone deep into the foundations of the existence of humankind concerning the aspects of health in the cultural traditions of the East and the West, and touching upon the individual concern for the environmental problems of today viewed through the concrete prism of Bulgarian concepts of longevity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Sep 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728393889

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© 2019 Dr. Sc. Gergana Apostolova. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 09/23/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-9387-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-9388-9 (e)

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CONTENTS

■     Abstract

■     Preface

■     Introduction

■     Objectives and tasks

■     Traditional values and health: the Eastern and the Western approaches to the Human being and its health

■     Modern philosophical approaches

■    Monstrosity: the extremities of harmony

■     Grounds for auto training and self-control

■     Building an individual model

■     Literature

ABSTRACT

This is an unusual field of philosophical investigation, since it is directed to the search of texts, created by philosophers, and discussing the subject of the health of the human individual from the point of view of direct care for the physical health. However, the motivation of such study has gone deep into the foundations of the existence of humankind concerning the aspects of health in the cultural traditions of the East and the West, and touching upon the individual concern for the environmental problems of today viewed through the concrete prism of Bulgarian concepts of longevity.

The study is a tribute to Professor Kliment Boytchev’s PHARE project book Valeology in the late 1990s. It adopts his idea of a science of health, based on I. Brechman’s ideas and health care practices in Bulgaria.

Views about human health and longevity have changed since then, yet there have appeared new practical challenges for our kind. It seems reasonable that an overview of the explicit philosophical ideas of health be published today when ages meet to ensure their transcendence in a future world of challenges yet to appear. It also seems reasonable to position such study against the Bulgarian practices, for this is a place of unique environment and a tangle of Eastern and Western cultures.

Last but not least there is the educational value of the following text which is interactive in nature. The text is meant for a BA university course but it addresses any individual. Therefore it is aimed to be useful in an applied way. It offers platforms for rethinking our health condition, and it also offers clues for governing our own health practices.

Key words: valeology, the third condition, physical health, mental health, e-kind, monstrosity, harmony.

PREFACE

This paper is a tribute to Professor Kliment Boytchev, who was the first Bulgarian academic to write a book and read a university course on the science of human health. He offered to me to translate his book into English and add a philosophical overview of the ideas of healthy lifestyle to his course of lectures. Thus it became a practice-bound study of both philosophers’ attitudes to the human body, understood as a psycho-physiological and social entity and a guide into the self-study of the reader.

Structurally Kliment Boytchev’s Valeology in the version he gave me for translation, contained 12 parts: an Introduction and 11 Modules. Since I was influenced in my approach to the study of the views of health contained in the history of philosophy by this copy, I shall further quote it as it exists in my e-records.

The Introduction displays the starting grounds for a university course of valeology in the early 1990s’ practices of care for the health of the healthy people and the third condition, i.e. the verge between health and sickness where medicine is still inactive. The first module is a clear layout of the subject and content of the science of valeology in the line of I. Brekhman (19211994) and the Eastern ideas of healthy lifestyle. The second module displays the connection of environment and health in view of the experience of the author. The third module extrapolates on the laws concerning human health. The fourth module is a survey of the connection of education and health in our Bulgarian practices. The fifth module displays the author’s philosophy of selfknowledge and health. The sixth module is written by Kl. Boytchev and Iv. Topuzov and discusses at length nutrition and health.

The seventh module is an applied study of physical exercise and health. The eighth and nineth modules where Ivan Topuzov is a co-author again discuss the ‘third condition’ and pharmacosanitation and health. The tenth module is written by dr. G. Kalaydjiev and is entitled Physioprophylaxis of Health, and the eleventh module by Kliment Boytchev is dedicated to the human individual choices and responsibilities of our personal condition.

In time Kliment Boytchev organized a series of courses at the South West University in Blagoevgrad and at New Bulgarian University in Sofia where he added a couple new lecturers, this expanding the scope of valeology to as many diverse fields of knowledge, as possible.

The book came out in Bulgarian in its initial version. It was based on Beckman’s idea of a science of health and on experimental data concerning the Bulgarian practices. However our educational system did not prove ready for that subject and it has not become popular still, despite the growing practices for natural treatment of the reversible third condition. It is a common practice country people to follow their habitual natural ways of caring for their health even in time of economic collapse. However, urban challenges deprive our younger generations of applying traditional practices, we continue forgetting about our health and old knowledge has ceased