什麽是健康呢？

江東亮(Tung-Liang Chiang)

《中華民國公共衛生學會雜誌》 1期 (1982/12) Pp. 12-29

https://doi.org/10.6288/JNPHARC1982-01-01-04

摘要

今天，健康是一項基本人權，是人類最重要的社會價值之一。但是，爲了達到這個目的，我們不能夠沒有適當的健康的概念。Cardus(1973)曾經提出四點理由，來說明爲什麼要定義健康。他說，第一，有了適當的定義，我們可以從非醫療方面來增進健康；其次，健康的概念可以幫助我們瞭解人類的行爲以及將來人類在求生存之途上會遭遇的困阨；第三，積極的健康的定義是防治慢性病與提倡預防醫學的基礎；最後，一個好的健康的定義是衛生計畫與衛生評價的根本。事實上，在西方社會裹，有不少的學者與專家非常重視健康的概念與計量，例如：WHO(19-57)，Sullivan(1966)，Moriyama(1968)，Wylie(1970)，Goldsmith(1972)，Lerner(1973a)，Elinson(1974)，Twaddle(1974)，Blum(1974)，Schlenger(1976)，Siegman et al.(1977)，Idler(1979)，和Baranowski(1981)。
本文將從「定義者」的分類，來研究健康的意義。爲了達到這個目的，下面將分成四個部分加以討論：(1)比較字典上健康的定義；(2)比較近代衛生界對健康的定義；(3)探討社會學方面對健康的看法；以及最後(4)討論：養生之道。

並列摘要

The concept of health has evolved over time. In the Western society, the concept of health had been narrowed down gradually since Hippocrates. In the eighteenth century, it was almost restricted to the state of bodily balance. However, after reviewing the definitions of health and disease by dictionary since 1771, it is found that afterward the dimensions of health have been again enlarged. Today, physical and mental components of health are well recognized in dictionaries, but social component is not. On the other hand, those in the field of health services and sociology have explored the concept of health deeply and the definitions of health are varied nowadays. It is hypothesized that the diversity in the concept of health is the rellection of definer's perceiving the philosophy of life. As a matter of fact, the' essence of health is part of life and is manifested by the biological functions and daily living, therefore, health is defined as living with relatively effective physical, mental and social functioning. The significance of this definition is the implication that health has its root in the process of living and should be promoted from the manner of life.

並列關鍵字

Health ； Disease ； and Living