It has been our intention to organize and communicate the initial, comprehensive presentation of Nursing as Caring usefully for nurses in practice, as well as those in administrative and academic roles. We have benefited wonderfully from the dialogue resulting from formal and informal opportunities to share this work as it evolved. We look forward to continuing this dialogue. Anne Boykin, PhD, RN Dean and Professor College of Nursing Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL Savina Schoenhofer, PhD Professor of Graduate Nursing Alcorn State University Natchez, MS REFERENCE Mayeroff, M. (1971). On Caring. New York: Harper and Row. [Illustration: Button] INTRODUCTION The study of human caring as a unique and essential characteristic of nursing practice has gradually expanded from early definitional, philosophical, and cultural research on the meanings of caring, to the explication of theoretical definitions of caring, conceptual models, proposed taxonomy of caring concepts, a great deal of creative experimentation with research methodologies, and the development of several theories of caring. In general, one may say that knowledge of caring has grown in two ways, first by extension and, more recently, by intension. Growth by extension consists of a relatively full explanation of a small region which is then carried over into an explanation of adjoining regions. Growth by extension can be associated with the metaphors of building a model or putting together a jigsaw puzzle (Kaplan, 1964, p. 305). In growth by intension, a partial explanation of a whole region is made more and more adequate and outlines for subsequent theory and observation are clarified. Growth by intension is associated with the metaphor of gradually illuminating a darkened room. A few persons enter the room with their individual lights and are able to slowly perceive what is in that room. As more persons enter the room, it becomes more fully illuminated, and the observed reality is clarified (Kaplan, 1964, p. 305). Growth by extension is implicit in the early caring definitions, explications, and models. The knowledge about caring was built up piece-by-piece, in the first ten years of study, by a few nurse scholars committed to the study of human care and caring.