title: Bakhtin's philosophy and medical practice--toward a semiotic theory of doctor-patient interaction.
abstract: Doctor-patient interaction has gained increasing attention among sociologists and linguists during the last few decades. The problem with the studies performed so far, however, has been a lack of a theoretical framework which could bring together the various phenomena observed within medical consultations. Mikhail Bakhtin's philosophy of language offers us tools for studying medical practice as socio-cultural semiotic phenomenon. Applying Bakhtin's ideas of polyphonic, context-dependent and open-ended nature of human communication opens the possibilities to develop prevailing theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of medical consultations.
authors.affiliation: rpuustin@cc.joensuu.fi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Puustinen
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D003933:Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D010808:Physical Examination; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations