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Somogy Varga

Professor, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University

During his AIAS-PIREAU fellowship, Somogy Varga will be working on the project 'Health Inequality and Medical dehumanization'

Project Description

The project aims to explore the concepts of health and disease that people use and to examine their connection to existing health inequalities and medical dehumanization. The first part of the project, in collaboration with Andrew J. Latham, combines traditional philosophical theorizing with experimental methods. We examine people’s concepts of health and disease, explore how they deploy them to make health-related judgments, and consider whether subtle differences could contribute to misaligned perceptions that potentially exacerbate health disparities. Based on these results, the second part of the project will explore the connection between these varying concepts of health and disease, health inequality, and the phenomenon of medical dehumanization.

Short Bio

I am professor of philosophy at Aarhus University and visiting research professor at Ruhr University Bochum. Before coming to Aarhus, I worked at the University of Memphis and at the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Osnabrück. My current research is mostly concerned with interrelated topics in the philosophy of science, psychiatry, and medicine.

Project title: Health Inequality and Medical dehumanization 

Area of research: Philosophy

Fellowship period: 1 Sep 2023 - 31 Jul 2024

Fellowship type: AIAS-PIREAU fellow

Contact: 
varga@cas.au.dk

AU Pure Profile

This fellowship has received funding from The Aarhus University Research Foundation (AUFF)