Anthropological Neurology: Symptoms and Their Meanings According to Joseph Prick (1909-1978)

This article describes the life and work of the Dutch neurologist Joseph Prick (1909-1978) and his idea of an anthropological neurology. According to Prick, neurological symptoms should not only be explained from an underlying physico-chemical substrate but also be regarded as meaningful. We present...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the history of the neurosciences 2011-01, Vol.20 (1), p.16-25
Main Authors: ter Meulen, B.C., Dekkers, W.J.M., Keyser, A., van Woerkom, T.C.A.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
anthropological medicine
Anthropology
Anthropology - history
Anthropology - methods
body subject
Clinical medicine
F. Buytendijk
History of medicine
History, 20th Century
Humans
J. J. G. Prick
Joseph Prick
M. Merleau-Ponty
Nervous System Diseases - history
Netherlands
Neurology - history
Neurology - methods
Neuropsychology - history
phenomenology
Prick
The Netherlands
unexplained symptoms
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Summary:This article describes the life and work of the Dutch neurologist Joseph Prick (1909-1978) and his idea of an anthropological neurology. According to Prick, neurological symptoms should not only be explained from an underlying physico-chemical substrate but also be regarded as meaningful. We present an outline of the historical and philosophical context of his ideas with a focus on the theory of the human body by the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) and the concept of anthropology-based medicine developed by Frederik Buytendijk (1887-1974). We give an overview of anthropological neurology as a clinical practice and finally we discuss the value of Prick's approach for clinical neurology today.
ISSN:0964-704X
1744-5213
DOI:10.1080/09647041003661570