Another Way of Thinking about Normality

The Potentiality of Goldstein’s Theory

Abstract

Normal and pathological are conceptions that seem to have a well-defined status in common sense. However, it is remarkable how few reflections we can find about this topic. Health sciences often adopt a statistic conception that can be measure in laboratory. For that, it would be necessary to have clear what is pathological. However, medicine finds itself in situations in which an ideal of normality cannot serve as guide in determining pathology. Psychiatry faces this problem when create a diagnostic manual. Primarily we will reflect on how Frances justifies his utilitarian use of the notion of normal to establish DSM in its fourth version. Nevertheless, in medicine’s history there is a conception of normal and pathological that has not been carried forward, but still has a potential. It is about a reflection of Goldstein on the organism. What if we thought the normal as an action of establishing norms?