La santé dans la différence

Abstract

According to Georges Canguilhem, no measurement of deviation from a statistical norm could form the basis of a definition of disease. Being healthy means being able to adapt to and this process of adaptation is active. What characterizes health is “normativity”, the possibility of tolerating infractions and of instituting new norms in response. Any normality limited to maintaining itself, hostile to any variation, and incapable of adapting to new situations does not represent health but sickness. Thus, even a sick organism exhibits biological norms. We’ll try to show in what extend this theory can be exported to teratology, psychology and evolution’s theories.