ABSTRACT
One reason why the various attempts to define health and disease have been so unsatisfactory is that those using the notion are driven by deeply diverse theoretical and practical goals. It seems to me that there is no reason why we should expect to be able to find a single, unified account of health or disease that meets all these disparate goals and captures the “true” meaning or essence of the terms; we may need to understand health and disease differently in the context of different kinds of projects and goals.
