The Pedagogy of Suffering

Abstract

Social science is a moral discourse, presenting claims about the nature of suffering and the proper response to suffering. Through a critique of psychooncology, I argue that social science has lost awareness of this moral dimension. The discourse of psychooncology is contrasted with that of first-person illness narratives to suggest (a) what is missing in the aggregation of ill persons' experiences as `data' for research purposes, and (b) what is missing in therapeutic practice that is ancillary to medical treatment. A hermeneutic stance in both research and therapy is advocated over scientific objectivism, and narrative is proposed as a basis of reconstituting research and therapy.