Peter Wilberg and the Concept of Existential Medicine

Abstract

The article introduces to Russian readers the concept of ‘existential medicine’, gives a short history of this concept’s formation, considers philosophical, medical and scientific premises which make this concept actual for philosophy of medicine
and condition demand for existential medicine itself in society. Among such premises the author considers ‘existential analysis’ developed by Martin Heidegger and Medard Boss, along with a now popular notion of ‘4P medicine’, personalized,
predictive, preventive, participative. The article analyzes the modern situation in 4P medicine and existing dissatisfaction by the reductionist approaches to its realization. Then the author presents the vision of existential medicine elaborated by
British researcher Peter Wilberg, who in the last years did much for scientific research, philosophical comprehension and popularization of this vision of medicine. Special attention is given to Wilberg’s concept of ‘fields of awareness’, which must be strictly discerned to allow effective diagnostics and cure of illnesses. Every disease is, in his opinion, essentially an ‘existential disorder’, which must be treated firstly to help further elimination of physical symptoms. In its concluding part the article attempts to give a strict definition of the concept ‘existential medicine’ in hope for the future fruitful discussions around this concept and the phenomenon itself. The core principle of existential medicine according to the author is understanding human being as a holistic conscious presence, not reducible to its biological, psychic and social manifestations.