Body Matters A Phenomenology of Sickness, Disease, and Illness

Following the core principle of phenomenology as a return "to the things themselves," Body Matters examines bodily afflictions from three different standpoints: from society in general, which interprets them as "sicknesses"; from the medical professions, which interpret them as "diseases"; and from the patients themselves, who interpret them as "illnesses." By drawing on a crucial distinction in German phenomenology between two senses of the body-the quantifiable, material body (Korper) and the lived-body (Leib)-the authors explore the ways in which sickness, disease, and illness are socially and historically experienced and constructed.

James Aho is professor of sociology at Idaho State University.