2nd lecture by; Dr.
Nurhan
Nursing , Science and Philosophy
Nursing ,Science and Philosophy
Outline:
Nursing As Profession
Characteristics of a profession include
Nursing as an Academic Discipline
Introduction to Science and Philosophy
Objectives
Student be able to discuss whether nursing is a profession or an occupation.
Identify nursing as academic discipline.
Describe the relation between science and philosophy.
Nursing As Profession
Largely due to the work of nursing scientists, nursing theorists, and nursing scholars
over the past five decades, nursing has been recognized as both an emerging
profession and an academic discipline.
Nursing As Profession
Professions are valued by society because the services professionals provide are beneficial for
members of the society.
Characteristics of a profession include:
(1) a defined knowledge base,
(2) power and authority over training and education, (3) registration,
(4) altruistic service,
(5) a code of ethics,
(6) lengthy socialization, and
(7) autonomy (Rutty, 1998).
Cont: Nursing As Profession
A profession must also have an institutionalized goal or social mission as well as a group of
scholars, investigators, or researchers who work to continually advance the knowledge of
the profession with the goal of improving practice (Schlotfeldt, 1989). Traditionally,
professions have included the clergy, law, and medicine.
Until recently, nursing was viewed as an occupation rather than a profession. Because the
services provided by nurses have been perceived as an extension of those offered by wives
and mothers.
Additionally, historically nursing has been seen as subservient to medicine, and nurses have
delayed in identifying and organizing professional knowledge.
Furthermore, the education for nurses is not yet standardized, and the three-tier entry-level
system into practice that persists (diploma, associate degree, and bachelor’s degree) may
have hindered professionalization. Finally, autonomy in practice is incomplete because
nursing is still dependent on medicine to direct much of its practice.
Cont: Nursing As Profession
On the other hand, many of the characteristics of a profession can be observed in nursing.
Indeed, nursing has a social mandate to provide health care for clients at different points in
the health–illness continuum.
There is a growing knowledge base, authority over education, altruistic service, a code of
ethics, and registration requirements for practice. Although the debate is ongoing, it can be
successfully argued that nursing is an aspiring, evolving profession (Logan et al., 2004; Rutty,
1998; Smith, 2000; Wolf, 2006).
Nursing as an Academic Discipline
Disciplines are distinctions between bodies of knowledge found in academic settings.
A discipline is “a branch of knowledge ordered through the theories and methods
evolving from more than one worldview of the phenomenon of concern”.
a discipline is a branch of educational instruction or a department of learning or
knowledge.
Institutions of higher education are organized around disciplines into colleges, schools,
and departments (e.g., business administration, chemistry, history, and engineering).
Several ways of classifying academic disciplines have been proposed. For instance, they
may be divided into the basic sciences (physics, biology, chemistry, sociology,
anthropology) and the humanities (philosophy, ethics, history, fine arts). In this
classification scheme, it is arguable that nursing has characteristics of both.
Distinctions may also be made between academic disciplines (e.g., physics, physiology,
sociology, mathematics, history, philosophy) and professional disciplines (e.g., medicine,
law, nursing, social work).
Nursing’s knowledge base draws from many disciplines. In the past, nursing has depended
heavily on physiology, sociology, psychology, and medicine to provide academic standing
and to inform practice.
In recent years, however, nursing has been seeking what is unique to nursing and
developing those aspects into an academic discipline.
Areas that identify nursing as a distinct discipline are as follows:
1. An identifiable philosophy.
2. At least one conceptual framework (perspective) for delineation of what can be defined
as nursing.
3. Acceptable methodologic approaches for the search and development of knowledge
(Oldnall, 1995).
Introduction to Science and Philosophy
Science is concerned with causality (cause and effect).
The scientific approach to understanding reality is characterized by observation,
verifiability, and experience; hypothesis testing and experimentation are considered
scientific methods.
In contrast, philosophy is concerned with the purpose of human life, the nature of being
and reality, and the theory and limits of knowledge.
Intuition, introspection, and reasoning are examples of philosophical methodologies.
Science and philosophy share the common goal of increasing knowledge (Fawcett, 1999;
Silva, 1977).
The science of any discipline is tied to its philosophy, which provides the basis for
understanding and developing theories for science (Gustafsson, 2002; Silva & Rothbert, 1984).
Overview Of Science
Science is both a process and a product.
Parse (1997) defines science as the “theoretical explanation of the subject of inquiry and the
methodological process of sustaining knowledge in a discipline” .
Characteristics of Science
1. Science must show a certain coherence.
2. Science is concerned with definite fields of knowledge.
3. Science is preferably expressed in universal statements.
4. The statements of science must be true or probably true.
5. The statements of science must be logically ordered.
6. Science must explain its investigations and arguments.
Cont: Overview Of Science
Science has been classified in several ways. These include pure or basic science, natural
science, human or social science, and applied or practice science.
The classifications are not mutually exclusive and are open to interpretation based on
philosophical orientation.
Classifications of Science
Natural sciences= Chemistry, physics, biology, physiology, geology, meteorology
Basic or pure sciences =Mathematics, logic, chemistry, physics, English (language)
Human or social sciences =Psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, political
science, history, religion
Practice or applied sciences = Engineering, Architecture, medicine, pharmacology, law
It has been posited that although nursing draws on the basic and pure sciences (e.g.,
physiology and chemistry) and has many characteristics of social sciences, it is an applied or
practice science.
Science has come to represent knowledge, and it is generated by the application of a variety
of procedures or methods to acquire that knowledge.
Overview Of Philosophy
Within any discipline, both scholars and students should be aware of the philosophical
orientations that are the basis for developing theory and advancing knowledge.
Philosophy has been defined as “a study of problems that are ultimate, abstract, and
general.
These problems are concerned with the nature of existence, knowledge, morality, reason,
and human purpose” .
Philosophy tries to discover knowledge and truth, and attempts to identify what is
valuable and important.
Nursing Philosophy
The terms nursing philosophy, nursing science, and philosophy of science in nursing are
sometimes used interchangeably. The differences, however, in the general meaning of
these concepts are important to recognize.
Nursing philosophy has been described as “a statement of foundational and universal
assumptions, beliefs and principles about the nature of knowledge and thought
(epistemology) and about the nature of the entities represented in the metaparadigm
(i.e., nursing practice and human health processes [ontology])”.
Nursing philosophy, then, refers to the belief system of the profession and provides
perspectives for practice, scholarship, and research.
Nursing Science
Barrett (2002) defined nursing science as “the substantive, discipline-specific knowledge that
focuses on the human-universe-health process articulated in the nursing frameworks and
theories” .
In general, nursing science refers to the system of relationships of human responses in health
and illness addressing biologic, behavioral, social, and cultural domains (Gortner & Schultz,
1988).
McEwen, Melanie.(2011)
Theoretical basis for nursing / Melanie McEwen, Evelyn M. Wills.—3rd ed. Wolters Kluwer
Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia .Pp: 2-17
