Sapienza Università Editrice

This volume presents some reflections on modern medicine by scholars of various disciplines. The leitmotiv of the various contributions is the focus on the dimensions of “cure” and “care”.

In Italian, the term cura describes both the elimination of the cause of a disorder or disease and a combination of procedures that refer to the informal form of assistance based on elements such as attention, encouragement, support, compassion. The English language, how-ever, uses two different words to indicate the processes described above: cure and care. The first draws on the wealth of knowledge of scientific medicine and thus concerns the therapeutic methods that allow physicians to treat patients from an exclusively technical point of view; the second refers to the wealth of knowledge and practices which entail the personal involvement of the person administering the treatment with the person who is suffering.

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