The medical humanities in the USA and France: Towards a comparative history

This article presents a comparative historical analysis of the development of the medical humanities in the United States and France. In the US, the field evolved through three major phases: an initial focus on human values and bioethics in the 1960s; a second phase from the 1980s emphasising culture, narrative, and transdisciplinary approaches influenced by the social anthropology of medicine and the biopsychosocial model; and a third phase, emerging in the 1990s, centred on structural forces in relation to health, exemplified by Paul Farmer's use of the concept of structural violence. In contrast, the French medical humanities, institutionalised from 2010, emerged from the integration of the humanities and social sciences (SHS) into medical education. Rooted in a tradition of critical engagement, French scholars draw heavily on the philosophy of Georges Canguilhem, particularly his vitalist conception of life as a normative struggle against limitation. The article explores how Canguilhem's influence, largely underappreciated in Anglophone contexts, offers a powerful framework for rethinking health, illness, and care. It also examines the differing receptions of Michel Foucault in both traditions, proposing a re-reading of Foucault through Canguilhem's writings. The authors argue that the French emphasis on care, normativity, and the lived experience of illness – especially through the emerging field of ‘ la philosophie du soin ’ – offers a valuable counterweight to the more institutionally critical orientation of Anglophone medical humanities. The article concludes by proposing a renewed dialogue between these traditions, grounded in a shared commitment to understanding medicine as a human, social, and philosophical practice.