The ethical dimension in health education

Abstract

Ethics, as a value judgement about positive and negative attitudes regarding the users as well as the professional, raises at the onset the issue of desire and knowledge. Through the three models traditionally referred to - positive health, negative health and global health - health education will question the ethical position in differing ways, according to points of view which vary with and are closely linked to socially biased representations. Moreover, the ethical questioning on health also falls within the broader scope of education philosophy, between praxis and poiesis. But it also implies accepting the accident as a necessity that gives value to error, the introduction of complexity then breaking the dogma of certainty. Putting together the various dimensions of health and health education seems to imply that, all things considered, taking care means living as authentically as possible, health education thus meaning training others and oneself to authenticity.