Systems Medicine and the War on Cancer: A New Materialist Analysis
Systems Medicine and the War on Cancer: A New Materialist Analysis
Author(s): Maria TemmesSubject(s): Gender Studies, Political Theory, Philosophy of Science, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Central European University
Keywords: systems medicine; cancer; new materialism
Summary/Abstract: I will argue that the vision of the body that contemporary cancer research maintains,which highlights bodily dynamism, complexity, and emergence, is consistent with the new materialist approach to material ontology. However, keeping in mind the new materialist demand on considering knowledge production as material-discursive,I argue that the metaphor of war against cancer, which is still prevalent when talking about cancer research, has a danger of reducing the complexity of this account. By offering a reading on how the war metaphor could be considered as anthropocentric,I will argue that this metaphor does not do justice to the systems biology approach and contemporary cancer treatments. I will suggest, instead, that challenging this metaphor might open up new ways to envision contemporary cancer research.
Journal: Pulse: the Journal of Science and Culture
- Issue Year: 2/2014
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 53-63
- Page Count: 11
- Language: English