Nursing Philosophy Essay Example for Free

care for school of thought EssayIntroduction school of thought originates with the Greek word philosophia, which translates as the love of wisdom. Philosophers be engaged in doubt concerning the search for truth, the spirit of universe and the meaning of human race let. Welch Polifroni(1999). The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast the philosophical tropes of Realism, Anti nativeism, Phenomenology , Postmodernism. To relate the sensationalism, Positivism, Historicism, and Relativism to the nature of scientific truth. Moreover, to discuss the moment of truth for nursing as a profession and as a comprehension. The various paradigms are characterized by ontological, epistemological and methodological differences in their approaches to conceptualizing and conducting research, and in their contribution towards disciplinary cognition construction. Weaver, and Olson. (2006). Table 1 expand theses differences between these philosophical paradigms. Realism and Anti naive realism Realism has an ontology which states that the structures creating the world cannot be straight offly observed.Its epistemology is that appearances do not necessarily reveal the mechanisms which cause these appearances, and its methodology indeedinvolves the construction of theories which can account for these appearances. Wainwright,S. ( 1997). Realism, in the Aristotelian, holds that things and individuals devote creation independent of human thought and that this extra-mental world is intelligible and forms a basis for evaluating propositions somewhat the world.Whelton,B. (2002) 2 ism course First naming Positivism collapses the world into a single plane of events. In contrast, realism recovers the ontological depth between the three stratified domains and thereby establishes relations of essential necessity sort of than the relations of logical necessity(universality). Wainwright,S. ( 1997). relevancy of Realism to breast feeding Realism proposes a common ontology and epistemology for the natural and social scholarships.Realism enables the traditional natural and social science division in subjects like geography, psychology, medicate and nursing to be bridged. Realism can therefore provide ontological and epistemological basis for nursing. Wainwrigh( 1997). On the former(a) hand, the interest her in the causal and epistemological ingredients of scientific realism because they support the claim that explanations are important in nursing scienceand practice and that the aim of scientist is to discover bankrupt and better explanations. Gortner, and Schumacher,(1992).Relevance of Antirealism to breast feeding It the positivist antirealism that make their views inappropriate for nursing science. It is not possible in positivism to process with inwrought aspects of person, nor with perceived relational processes, nor with explanations without translating them into physiological states or behaviors. virtuoso of the most serious conseq uences of an antilrealist construction of theories is that theories cannot explain.One of the major distinctionbetween scientific realism and antirealism is the way in which theoretical entities are understood. In the language of scientific realism the term theoretical entities usually means unobservable entities, states, or processes. The antirealists turn down the existence of 3 Philosophy course First Assignment unobservable entities or process. Antirealist assert that the flightiness of truth or falsity is relevant to observation even though it is not relevant to theory. Gortner, and Schumacher,(1992).Phenomenology For Edmund Husserl, phenomenology is the contemplative study of the essence ofconsciousness as dated from the first-person point of view Phenomenology, founded by Edmund Husserl, promotes the idea that the natural world is largely shaped by the human mind. Wikipedia, (2007). Phenomenology is philosophical movement whose primary objective is the direct investigation and description of phenomena as consciously experienced. It remains different from and in opposition to positivism because it is a theoretical, non causal, and attempts to be sinless of supposition. Welch(1999) P243).Postmodernism The essence of truth lies at bottom the individual and the individual may change orlater alter that view dependent on the context and the circumstances. Thus, the postmodern worldview is that truth neither whimsical nor multiple it is personal and highly individualized and contextually driven. Welch Polifoni (1999)p-58) The Significance of Truth for Nursing as a Profession and as a Science. Science, philosophy and philosophy of science are all topics of great moment to nursingthe get hold of to examine issues of what it means to know, what truth is, how we know and what can be learned from science and philosophy is central to growth in the 4 Philosophy course First Assignmentdiscipline.Simultaneously, it is exigent that nurse scholars gain actualis eing of the divers scientific and philosophic traditions that have influenced the development of nursing knowledge in effect to develop and enhance our science, our discipline and our profession. . Welch and Polifroni (1999(p-1)) Philosophy of science in nursing seeks to understand truth, to examine prediction, causality and law, to critically relate theories, models and scientific systems. Theses goals are accomplished through the methods of philosophic inquiry of reflection and dialogue. Welch Polifroni(1999(p-5)).In fiat to understand what truth is, Welch Polifroni(1999) discussed the roots of truth ( Intuition, Authority, Tradition, Common Sense and Science)as well as the theories of truth such as correspondence theory coherence theory pragmatic theory semantic and performative theory. These theories gave different interpretations for truth, for instance, correspondence theory suggests that truth is related to and correspond with reality, the truth is achieved through percep tions of the world, on the other hand for coherence theory, the truth is true if it is coherent while for the pragmatic theory thetruth is sexual intercourse and related to the practicality and workableness of a solution.According to Newman, Sime and Corcoran-Perry(1991) Nursing is the study of caring in the human health experiencenursing body of knowledge includes caring and human health experience. A body of knowledge that does not include caring and human health experience is not nursing knowledge. . Truth can be achieved through knowing principles and causes of the natural kind dirty dog phenomena. It is proposed that humans are the natural kind behind nursing phenomena.Thus, human nature provides proper principles (the truth) of nursing 5Philosophy course First Assignment practice. It is proposed that it is knowledge of human nature that provides principles of human action, and thus human nature is a source of practical truth in nursing. Whelton . (2002). The realist ontolog ical position assumes that an objective world exists independently of our knowledge, beliefs , theories or descriptions most it.This reality exists whether or not we can experience it or have conceptions of its nature. In contrast, several nonrealist positions have also been advanced, incorporating a wide variety of philosophical views pertaining to truth. These positions reject ontological and/orepistemological realism, and therefore truth cannot be related to an external reality . Lomborg and Kirkevold (2003).However, Gortner and Schumacher (1992 )stated that Nursing scholars can explore scientific realism for the insights it may provide for nursing science . Moreover, Gortner and Schumacher (1992) proposed that Scientific realism is relevant to nursing science in the following ways (1) It supports the full range of nursing theory (2) It affirms the importance of including subjective client states in nursing theory and refutes the claim of the positivists that if it is not obse rvable, it doesnot exist. (3) It adds the idea of the substantive content of explanations to discussion about forms of explanation(4) It includes the notion of truth as a regulative ideal in science and claims that better theories are theories that are closer to the truth. 6 Philosophy course First Assignment cerebrate the Empiricism, Positivism, Historicism, and Relativism to the nature of scientific truth Positivism Positivist approaches are founded on an ontology that the things we experience are things that exist.Its epistemology requires that this experience is verified through thedeductive methodology of the scientific method Wainwright,S. ( 1997). The positivistic philosophy of science forget for example argue that scientific knowledge is objective and should be verified accordingly. Nyatanga(2005). The Relevance of Positivism to Nursing It the positivist antirealism that make their views inappropriate for nursing science. It is not possible in positivism to deal with subj ective aspects of person, nor with perceived relational processes, nor with explanations without translating them into physiological states or behaviors.One of the most serious consequences of an antilrealistconstruction of theories is that theories cannot explain. Gortner, and Schumacher, (1992). EMPIRICISM Empiricism in its classical sense was a philosophical doctrine that considered observation to be the foundation of knowledge. Gortner and Schumacher(1992). coetaneous sensualism is a paradigm that has the ability to facilitate the application of the scientific facts learned from verifiable methods within the appropriate context by taking interpretative knowledge into accountIt thus seems apparent that a broader view of scientific knowledge is required, and this is where contemporary views of 7Philosophy course First Assignment empiricism are more applicable to the practice of nursing. However, before reviewing the basic tenets of contemporary empiricism, there is a need to pro vide an overview of interpretive methods and their ability to provide a context or structure for the use of empirical knowledge.Pluralism supports the assumption of contemporary empiricism that human responses can be identified, measured and understood even considering their analyzable nature. Therefore, an important part of nursing knowledge acquisition includes a synthesis of the data in order to better understand thesynergistic effects of the whole, which cannot be learned simply by studying its parts. traditionalistic empiricism provides a basis for the study of certain types of knowledge that have made important contributions to the science of nursing. Giuliano,K. ( 2003)The strength of contemporary empiricism is that it values traditional empirical knowledge but takes interpretive knowledge into account in order to provide a context for the appropriate application of that knowledge. The pluralistic nature of contemporary empiricism gives it the ability to bridge the tornado between the facts of scientificknowledge and the use of scientific knowledge in order to facilitate the application of all types of nursing knowledge. Giuliano,K. ( 2003).HISTORICISM The main protagonist of historicism is Kuhn. He was dismayed to find that traditional accounts of the philosophy of science bore no comparison with historical 8 Philosophy course First Assignment evidence. He then set out to establish a theory of the philosophy of science in keeping with historical evidence as he saying it (hence the term historicism). Nyatanga (2005). Relativism Epistemological relativism view of truth and falsity in general are relative.An epistemological relativist denies that anything at all can be known with certainty. According to hard core epistemological relativism, everything is a upshot of opinion, including science. In this view of truth, nursing science has much knowledge that is derived from opinion and personal experience and accordingly it is relative knowledge. Summa ry The importance and significance of the philosophical world views of realism, antirealism, phenomenology , postmodernism, positivism, empiricism, relativism and historicism for nursing science and profession were explored in this paper.However, thisarea need more detailed exploration through our philosophy course in order to understand the similarities and differences between these philosophical worldviews and how we can integrate this knowledge in our practice and education. 9 Philosophy course First Assignment References Giuliano,K. (2003). Expanding the use of empiricism in nursing can we bridge the gap between knowledge and clinical practice? Nursing Philosophy. 2003,4, pp. 4452. Gortner,S. and Schumacher,K. (1992). (Mis)conception and Reconceptions about Traditional Science. Advances in Nursing Science, 1992, 14(4)1-11 Lomborg,K. and Kirkevold,M.(2003).Truth and validity in grounded theory a reconsidered realist interpretation of the criteria fit, work, relevance and modifia bility. Nursing Philosophy, 2003,4, pp. 189200. Newman,M. , Sime, A. , and Cororan-Perry. .(1991)The Focus of the gibe of Nursing. Advances in Nursing Science,(1991),14(1)1-6. Nyatanga, L. (2005). Nursing and the philosophy of science. Nurse Education Today (2005) 25, 670674 Wainwright, S. ( 1997). A new paradigm for nursing the potential of realism. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1997, 26, 1262-1271 Weaver, K. and Olson, J. (2006).Understanding paradigms used for nursingresearch. Journal of Advanced Nursing 2006 Vol. 53 Issue 4 pages 459469 10 Philosophy course First Assignment Welch,M. and Polifoni,E. (1999) . Perspectives on Philosophy of Science in Nursing. An Historical and Contemporary Anthology. Copyright 1999. Lippincott Williams Wilkins . Whelton,B. (2002) Human nature as a source of practical truth AristotelianThomistic realism and the practical science of nursing. Nursing Philosophy,2002, 3, pp. 3546 Wikipedia, (2007). Phenomenology. Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Retr ieved October 15, 2007, from http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Phenomenology.