Entangled traditions: Philosophical and cultural foundations of the health humanities in France and the USA

This special issue of History of the Human Sciences offers a comparative exploration of the medical or health humanities in France and the United States, highlighting both convergences and divergences in their intellectual trajectories. While French thinkers such as Michel Foucault, Georges Canguilhem, and Paul Ricoeur are widely cited in Anglophone scholarship, the distinctively French traditions within the field remain underexplored. Conversely, the Anglo-American medical humanities gained visibility in France only in the late 2010s. This volume traces the evolution of the field in both contexts, emphasising the French focus on norms, vitality, and the negative, and the Anglo-American emphasis on hidden values, cultural determinants of health, the biopsychosocial model, and narrative. A shared commitment to the concept of care emerges as a key point of convergence. The issue includes contributions on the philosophical foundations of care (Lefève and ffrench), the linguistic and conceptual challenges of translating ‘care’ across traditions (ffrench), and the phenomenological and affective dimensions of caregiving (Pachoud and Schwering). It also features empirical and collaborative research on care practices (Aujoulat and Ricadat), a philosophical analysis of recognition and agency in clinical encounters (Rashed), and a critical gerontological perspective on narrative and ageing (Zimmermann). The final article (Vickers) offers a genealogical account of the narrative-based medical humanities (1980–1995), arguing for its foundational role in shaping the field. Together, these articles aim to foster greater cross-cultural dialogue and methodological pluralism, offering a critical ontology of care that integrates existential, social, and biological dimensions of health and illness.