CLS 138 — Medicine: The Uncertain Art
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Matthew Morrison
Date(s): Sep 23—Dec 2
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Wednesdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 5:30—7:20 pm (PT)
Please Note: No class on November 25
Tuition: $585
Refund Deadline: Sep 25
Unit(s): 2
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Fall
Day: Wednesdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 5:30—7:20 pm (PT)
Date(s): Sep 23—Dec 2
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $585
Refund Deadline: Sep 25
Instructor(s): Matthew Morrison
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Please Note: No class on November 25
Yale surgeon and author Sherwin Nuland often referred to medicine as the “Uncertain Art." This course explores how physicians, writers, and philosophers have grappled with the ambiguities at the heart of medical practice—and how narrative can illuminate what clinical language alone cannot. Through memoir, fiction, philosophy, and case study, we examine the tensions between science and intuition, data and judgment, diagnosis and doubt. Primary readings include Mikhail Bulgakov, Henry Marsh, Atul Gawande, and Lisa Sanders—writers who reveal medicine not simply as a technical discipline but as a profoundly human one. Additional topics include the philosophy of science (Karl Popper), the tension between rationalism and romanticism (William James), epistemology and scientism (Wittgenstein), algorithmic vs. intuitive thinking (Groopman, Taleb), and the long conversation between the sciences and the humanities, from Pascal and Blake to Einstein and Tagore.
Guest Speakers:
Thomas C. Duffy, Professor in the Practice of Music, Artistic Director, Ellington Jazz Series, and Director of University Bands, Yale University
Thomas Duffy is a composer, conductor, and professor in the practice of Music at the Yale School of Music, where he has served since 1982. He is director of Yale University Bands and artistic director of the Ellington Jazz Series. His work spans composition, wind band history, jazz, and interdisciplinary research on music, creativity, and the brain.
Linda Honan, Professor Emerita, Yale School of Nursing
Linda Honan is a professor emerita at the Yale School of Nursing and a nationally recognized nurse educator. For more than three decades, she taught in Yale's Graduate Entry Prespecialty in Nursing program and helped lead interprofessional clinical education across Yale's health professions schools. Her research explores innovative approaches to clinical teaching, including the use of art, music, and narrative to strengthen observation, diagnostic reasoning, and patient care.
Lisa Sanders, Associate Professor of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine
Lisa Sanders is an internist, educator, and writer best known for exploring the art and science of medical diagnosis. A faculty member at the Yale School of Medicine, she writes the long-running Diagnosis column for The New York Times Magazine and served as a consultant for the television series House.
Guest Speakers:
Thomas C. Duffy, Professor in the Practice of Music, Artistic Director, Ellington Jazz Series, and Director of University Bands, Yale University
Thomas Duffy is a composer, conductor, and professor in the practice of Music at the Yale School of Music, where he has served since 1982. He is director of Yale University Bands and artistic director of the Ellington Jazz Series. His work spans composition, wind band history, jazz, and interdisciplinary research on music, creativity, and the brain.
Linda Honan, Professor Emerita, Yale School of Nursing
Linda Honan is a professor emerita at the Yale School of Nursing and a nationally recognized nurse educator. For more than three decades, she taught in Yale's Graduate Entry Prespecialty in Nursing program and helped lead interprofessional clinical education across Yale's health professions schools. Her research explores innovative approaches to clinical teaching, including the use of art, music, and narrative to strengthen observation, diagnostic reasoning, and patient care.
Lisa Sanders, Associate Professor of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine
Lisa Sanders is an internist, educator, and writer best known for exploring the art and science of medical diagnosis. A faculty member at the Yale School of Medicine, she writes the long-running Diagnosis column for The New York Times Magazine and served as a consultant for the television series House.