Comparative and Non-comparative Concepts of Health

Although Christopher Boorse relies in part on distributional facts to distinguish health from pathology, his account rests on comparisons of the functional efficiency of parts and processes. It is thus ironic that in defending a comparative view of health (whereby “healthy” is defined in terms of “healthier than”, as “tall” is defined in terms of “taller then”), Andrew Schroeder criticizes Boorse for defending a non-comparative view. Schroeder’s critique cannot be easily dismissed, because a comparative view of the functional efficiency of parts such as Boorse’s, is consistent with a non-comparative view of overall health. This essay draws some conclusions concerning both how to interpret Boorse’s view and whether a comparative view of health is, as Schroeder argues, superior to a non-comparative view.