In capitalist society health is the capability to earn, among the Greeks it was the capability to enjoy, and in the Middle Ages the capability to believe. We may finally risk the proposition that precisely because the doctor, even at the individual sick-bed, has an almost crazy utopian plan latently in view, he ostensibly avoids it. This definite plan, the final medical wishful dream, is nothing less than the abolition of death.
Health is by no means solely a medical notion, but predominantly a societal one.
Restoring to health again means in reality bringing the sick man to that kind of health which is respectively acknowledged in each respective society, and which was in fact first formed in that society itself. The principle of hope. A long painless life to a ripe old age, culminating in a death replete with life, is still outstanding, has constantly been planned. But people cannot walk upright if social life itself still lies crooked. The principle of hope.