Catholicism,Medicine,and Mental Retardation

Abstract

The practical implications of the following article go way beyond its subject, and beyond medicine. Within one country people of different religious background, different national background, different social scale, tend to see some issues in sharply different light. They are genuinely unable to understand emotionally the opposite point of view. This is the thesis which John L. Hoffman documents in his description of the attitudes of typical American doctors and Roman Catholic parents. True as this is within our own complex culture, how much more sharply it is often true from culture to culture. Many examples have been given in the pages of Practical Anthropology. Perhaps this one, closer to home, will sharpen our understanding of how deeply the issues run.