Rationality and Ideology in Medicine -Focusing on George Canguilhem’s concept of scientific ideology

Rationality and ideology have been considered as antagonistic concepts. However, Georges Canguilhem proposed the concept of scientific ideology by combining two seemingly contradictory concepts. He seems to have coined this term in order to encompass the area which belongs neither to science nor false science such as astrology, magic, and alchemy. His main idea was not only to save the discourse which failed to be successful science from falling into oblivion, but to pay attention to the rational and ideologic aspects of the discourses which claim to be scientific. He is also asking whether the rationality which had been valid in a certain limited discipline can still be valid when it is applied to other disciplines. He is replying to this question by underlining the fundamental difference between the norm of individual organism and the norm of a society. Rationality is susceptible to turn into ideology when it claims to be still rational in the area in which its rationality is no longer validope