Biography
Helene Scott-Fordsmand is an affiliated researcher at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science and a research fellow at Clare Hall. She works on questions related to enquiry and reasoning in clinical practice, and is currently writing about the role of medical classification and the contrast between idealised categories and ‘messy’ human bodies.
Dr Scott-Fordsmand works as a philosopher driven by an interest in unruly moments of medical inquiry and focusing in particularly on case studies from anatomical and orthopaedic contexts. She draws on methods from anthropology and science and technology studies, and she has collaborated with clinicians and artists on research, creative writing, and exhibition projects.
She earned her PhD from University of Copenhagen. Her doctoral research was carried out at Medical Museion – a university museum for medical history, culture, and research – and focused on the epistemic role of aversive emotions in clinical enquiry. She has published on medical humanities, emotions in medical practice, practice-based reasoning in clinical medicine, Julia Kristeva, and Mary Hesse. From 2017-2019 she served as the chairwoman of the Danish Network for Women in Philosophy (now: Network for women and non-binaries in Philosophy).
Publications
- Scott-Fordsmand H. 2023. ‘Analogy in Mary (Brenda) Hesse (1924-2016)’, in Hagengruber, Ruth & Waithe, Mary Ellen (eds.). Encyclopedia of Concise Concepts by Women Philosophers. https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/ecc/#hwps
- Scott-Fordsmand H and Tybjerg K (co-written). 2023. ‘Approaching Diagnostic Messiness through Spiderweb Strategies: Connecting epistemic practices in the clinic and the laboratory’. Studies in the history and philosophy of science, 102:12-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2023.08.006
- Scott-Fordsmand H. 2023 (online first 2020). 'Reversing the medical humanities,' Medical humanities, 49(3):347-360. https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2019-011745. (preprint available here)
- Scott-Fordsmand H. (2022). ‘Sticking with the fat’. Medicine, Anthropology, Theory. 9(3):1-21. http://www.medanthrotheory.org/article/view/6186
- Scott-Fordsmand H. 2022. ‘Evaluating emotions in medical practice: A critical examination of “clinical detachment” and emotional attunement in orthopaedic surgery’. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy. 25:413-428. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11019-022-10088-x
- Scott-Fordsmand H. 2021. ‘Abject Object Relations and Epistemic Engagement in Clinical Practice’. Philosophy of Medicine Vol 2 (2). https://philmed.pitt.edu/philmed/article/view/45
- Scott-Fordsmand H, Formosinho J, Friis T & Grytter S (co-written creative writing piece). 2021. ‘Entering the house: Making sense of Covid-19’. The Polyphony. October. https://thepolyphony.org/2021/10/11/entering-the-house-making-sense-of-covid-19/