Medical case reports and scientific thought-styles

Abstract

This article continues a series of studies connected with the Scientific Thought-styles project (1995-), and discusses the formation of genre conventions of vernacular medical case reports in a long diachronic perspective. The theoretical background is explained first, with accompanying material from medical history and the philosophy of science. The epistemological status of the genre is on the practical side: besides theories, experience is valued, and relating what happened in a typical case of illness is the core function of the genre. In addition, the function of enhancing the efficacy of the cure grows prominent in some texts. Case studies are narratives of illness and endangered human life, and the model of natural narratives (Labov & Waletzky, 1967) can be identified in these stories. The method of analysis is qualitative and relies on illuminative examples from two electronic corpora Middle English Medical Texts (2005) and Early Modern Medical Texts (2010). The article finishes with a modern example that shows a shift to non-human technical facts.