Pathologists are from Mercury, clinicians are from Uranus: the perverted prospects for perceptual pathology

Clinicians and pathologists do their work, of course, in quite different ways. Because both groups are trained as physicians, however, this training commonality makes all involved seem basically to be on the same “medical team.” There are, nevertheless, some fundamental differences between the 2 groups that can on occasion cause significant difficulties in mutual understanding; there are reasons to believe that such differences are becoming more pronounced. Although the differences in viewpoints are often subtle and, therefore, seemingly not very important, these differences have very profound causes and can be profound in their effects. This narrative examines the underlying broad historical-sociological-philosophical bases for these differences with the aim of illuminating their importance to medicine and their prospective importance to pathology in particular.