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Abstract
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was a forty year study of the untreated effects of syphilis on more than 625 African American men. Most critics who deal with this study argue that it continued because of racism, medical arrogance, and the desire for knowledge about syphilis. However, analyzing two documents from the study via the work of Kenneth Burke, Sonja K. Foss, Teun A. van Dijk, Karl Marx, Jacques Lacan, and Slavoj iek reveals that the study had very little to do with racism, medical arrogance, or the desire for knowledge about syphilis. Instead, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study focused on analyzing the nature of medical research in an effort to perfect it.