At today’s Rose Cafe, Magdala spoke with us about her research in the intersection between French literature and the philosophy of medicine. Specifically, we discussed the idea of normal and how the conflation between health and normalness have led to intrusive medical treatments and oppression of the docile different. After a careful philosophical dialectic, we were left debating exactly what repercussions there are with imposing a binary based on normality on to the medical treatment and classification of others.

After this discussion, I have come to the opinion that the very idea of normalcy is completely unnecessary. We use normalcy to easily organize and describe desirable ideas. For example, doctors consider healthy to be normal. But with that, we are labeling the unhealthy as not normal. Why not simply call the healthy healthy and the unhealthy unhealthy? This translates into other areas of society. Because the average person has a partner of the different sex, we consider heterosexual relationships the norm. By doing this, we are designating LGBTQIA+ individuals as not normal. And with this act, there are debilitating effects on society, such as the alienation of those who are different without hurting others. Overall, I have left this rose cafe with a better perception of the philosophy of medicine and what it really means when I label something as “normal”.