Philosophy is often viewed as man's contemplations, autobiographical
revelations, and the values and belief systems that underlie man's
actions, Can an explicit philosophy of nursing allow for more meaningful
quality practice, be a resource for nurses, improve service, be
available for reexamination, correction, and the forwarding of
knowledge? If nursing practice is viewed as the implementation of
scientific facts and what they call forth in the nursing situation
related to man's condition of existence, is a heuristic science of
nursing developed from this situation, by nurses, an appropriate
practical professional aim?
{67}
This presentation is my answer, a committed "Yes."
The method offered here, a phenomenological method of nursology, aims at
the reality of man, how he experiences his world, or it aims at a
subjective-objective state. It aims at description of the professional
clinical nursing situation which in reality is subjective-objective
world that occurs between subjective-objective beings. The description
focuses on this between and preserves the complex mobile flow of the
river of nursing to make apparent that superficial precise portrayals
are only an overlay of its river bed, course, and eventual destinations.
The relevance of phenomenological nursology ranges from the formulation
of nursing constructs to the creation of theoretical propositions. It is
applicable to one's own clinical data and to others' clinical data, here
and now, or in historical study of the literature.
METHODOLOGICAL STARTING POINT
This method addresses itself to the question: How can a nurse, a
subjective-objective human being know self and the other and compare and
complementarily synthesize these known betweens?
Basic to this method is a belief system, a philosophy about the nature
of man explicitly commented on by thinkers throughout human history.
Plato said:
"I cannot be sure whether or not I see it as it really is; but
we can be sure there is some such reality which it concerns us
to see."[4]
Nurses are with other men in times of peak life experiences under the
most intimate circumstances. We, too, can not be certain about what we
come to know in our betweens. We can be sure that these realities of
human experience are worthy of exploration. Our opportunities are
unique, only we can describe man in the nursing situation.
In _Let Us Now Praise Famous Men_, James Agee voices a similar concern
about the need to describe man-in-his-world and the adequacy of human
description.[5] Aware of the wonders and complexities of man he
considers not trying to describe worse than the inadequacy of
description.
Thinkers have also acknowledged that we can come to know from others. A
poem by Goethe expresses an attitude about this:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account