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Nursing Philosophy

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Nursing Philosophy
Philosophy – First Assignment

Anas Al-Domi

Introduction
Philosophy originates with the Greek word philosophia, which translates as "the love of wisdom". Philosophers are engaged in inquiry concerning the search for truth, the nature of universe and the meaning of human experience. Welch& Polifroni(1999). The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast the philosophical paradigms of Realism, Antirealism, Phenomenology , Postmodernism. To relate the Empiricism, Positivism, Historicism, and Relativism to the nature of scientific truth. Moreover, to discuss the significance of truth for nursing as a profession and as a science.
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 knowledge construction. Weaver, and Olson.(2006). Table 1 illustrate theses differences between these philosophical paradigms.
Realism and Antirealism Realism has an ontology which states that the structures creating the world cannot be directly observed. Its epistemology is that appearances do not necessarily reveal the mechanisms which cause these appearances, and its methodology therefore involves the construction of theories which can account for these appearances. Wainwright,S.( 1997).Realism, in the Aristotelian, holds that things and individuals have existence independent of human thought and that this extra-mental world is intelligible and forms a basis for evaluating propositions about the world. Whelton,B.(2002) 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 natural necessity rather than the relations of logical necessity (universality). Wainwright,S.( 1997).
Relevance of Realism to Nursing
Realism proposes a common ontology



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.44–52. 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 modifiability. Nursing Philosophy, 2003,4, pp. 189–200. Newman,M., Sime, A., and Cororan-Perry. .(1991)The Focus of the Discipline 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, 670–674 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 nursing research. Journal of Advanced Nursing 2006 - Vol. 53 Issue 4 pages 459–469 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: Aristotelian–Thomistic realism and the practical science of nursing. Nursing Philosophy,2002, 3, pp. 35–46 Wikipedia, (2007). Phenomenology. Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Retrieved October 15, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology

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