In the mental health area the polar extreme from the pathology model is the “neurodiversity” model. The point about allowing treatment when it is available and effective, whether the treatment is an “enhancement” or a “cure” is also worthwhile.
In the area of obesity, I think we are pretty open, as a society, to letting the evidence guide us. In the area of mental health, we are probably less so, although I do think that empirical evidence about the nature of homosexuality has been decisive in driving a dramatic change in public opinion about it.
A key concept that sums up your analysis, which you call “determinist consequenntialist” is the revelation that you should know why you want to use a word before you define it, and that a word may have different definitions that are appropriate for different contexts. A definition of disease designed to draw a line limiting covered medical expenditures may find an enhancement/pathology treatment distinction useful, while a definition of disease designed to distinguish between whether treatment should be available to those for whom ability to pay is not the issue might not.
In the mental health area the polar extreme from the pathology model is the “neurodiversity” model. The point about allowing treatment when it is available and effective, whether the treatment is an “enhancement” or a “cure” is also worthwhile.
In the area of obesity, I think we are pretty open, as a society, to letting the evidence guide us. In the area of mental health, we are probably less so, although I do think that empirical evidence about the nature of homosexuality has been decisive in driving a dramatic change in public opinion about it.
A key concept that sums up your analysis, which you call “determinist consequenntialist” is the revelation that you should know why you want to use a word before you define it, and that a word may have different definitions that are appropriate for different contexts. A definition of disease designed to draw a line limiting covered medical expenditures may find an enhancement/pathology treatment distinction useful, while a definition of disease designed to distinguish between whether treatment should be available to those for whom ability to pay is not the issue might not.