EVOLUTION OF

NURSING
II. HISTORY OF
PHILOSOPHY & SCIENCE
• is  a  systematic  study  of  general  
and  fundamental  questions  
concerning  topics  like  existence,  
reason,  knowledge,  value,  and  
language.  It  is  a  rational  and  
critical  inquiry  that  reflects  on  its  
own  methods  and  assumptions.

• The  word  "philosophy"  comes  

from  the  ancient  Greek  
words φίλος (philos:  "love")  
and σοφία (sophia:  "wisdom").
Some  sources  say  that  the  term  
was  coined  by  the  Presocratic  
philosopher  Pythagoras,  but  this  
is  not  certain.
Cont.

Philosophy studies concepts that structure thought processes, foundations, and

presumptions.

It is an approach for thinking about the nature of people, the methods that should be
used to create a scientific knowledge and the ethics involved. It denotes a
perspective, implying certain broad, "taken for granted" assumptions.

Epistemology - a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the nature and scope
of knowledge. It is referred to as the ' theory of knowledge'
• A  philosophy  of  nursing  is  an  
approach  to  nursing,  usually  created  
by  individual  nurses  in  their  own  daily  
practice  in  the  field.  A  nurse  uses  his  
or  her  philosophy  of  nursing  to  
explain  what  he  or  she  believes  
nursing  is,  the  role  nursing  plays  in  
the  health  care  field,  and  how  he  or  
she  interacts  with  patients.  A  
philosophy  of  nursing  also  addresses  
a  nurse’s  ethics  as  it  relates  to  the  
practice  of  nursing.  
• For  example,  are  there  any  
“lines”  a  particular  nurse  will  
cross?  If  so,  which  ones?  Under  
what  circumstances?
• A  philosophy  of  nursing  guides  a  
nurse  as  he  or  she  practices  each  
day.
What is
SCIENCE?
• Science is logical,
systematic, & coherent way
to solve problems and
answer questions.
• It is a collection of facts
known in area and the
process used to obtain that
knowledge.
RATIONALISM

•
René Descartes
(1596-1650)
• Father  of  modern  rationalism.  
• REASON  is  the  source  of  
Knowledge,  not  EXPERIENCE.
• All  our  ideas  are  INNATE.
• God  fashioned  us  with  Ideas.
• We  discover  basic  truths  by  
INTUITION;;  by  grasping  basic  
connections  between  the  ideas  
we  have.
• We  deduce  of  DEMONSTRATE  
more  complex  truths
PLATO (424/423 – 348 BC)

• was  an  ancient  Greek  philosopher  

born  in  Athens  during  the  
Classical  period.  In  Athens,  Plato  
founded  the  Academy,  a  
philosophical  school  where  he  
taught  the  philosophical  doctrines  
that  would  later  become  known  as  
Platonism
• sense  experience  fails  to  provide  
us  with  any  guarantee  that  what  
we  experience  is,  in  fact,  true.
 Encompasses several strands of thought all of which
usually share the conviction that REALITY is rationale in
nature and that making the proper deductions is essential
in achieving knowledge

Latin word ratio, meaning reason-point of view that states

What is that reason plays the main role in understanding the world
Philosophy and obtaining knowledge

of
is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge
Rationalism? or justification." in which the criterion of the truth is not
sensory but intellectual and deductive.

The philosophical view that regards reason as the chief

source and test of knowledge. Holding the reality itself has
an inherent logical structure
EMPIRICISM

•
ARISTOTLE
• Like  Plato,  Aristotle  believed  
that  knowledge  necessarily  
involves  general  or  universal  
ideas  -­ man,  dog,  table,  chair,  
etc.

• Aristotle  believed  that  our  

knowledge  of  the  general  
comes  from  our  experience  of  
men,  tables,  chairs,  dogs,  
oceans  etc.
How do we arrive at universal ideas based on our
limited and fluctuating experience of things?

• Aristotle's answer is that the universal and

necessary elements of knowledge- the
foundations of all subsequent reasoning - are
built up in the mind through INDUCTION.
Francis Bacon
• is popularly known for being a
philosopher and specifically
contributing to philosophy surrounding
the nature of science and epistemology,
or the study of knowledge.
• Bacon has been called the father
of empiricism, which is the idea that
knowledge comes from the senses.
• Francis Bacon's theory was that
scientific knowledge must come from
the careful observation of nature filtered
through inductive reasoning.
The Empiricism of John Locke
(1632-1704)

• An  early  Enlightenment  philosopher,  

in  the  first  two  books  of  his  Essay  
Concerning  Human  Understanding  
(1690).

• The  most  elaborate  and  influential  

presentation  of  empiricism
John Locke (1632-1704)

• Locke  disagreed  with  Descartes'  concept  of  innate  ideas.  He  

sought  to  create  a  "simpler"  philosophy  -­ through  the  
application  of  Ockham's  Razor  -­ that  would  prove  Descartes  
wrong  and  put  forth  his  own  idea  of  the  tabula  rasa
• Tabula  rasa  means  "blank  slate."  Locke  believed  that  we  were  
all  born  with  a  mind  like  a  blank  slate  -­ containing  NO  innate  
ideas.  He  asserts  that  all  our  knowledge  comes  from  
observation.
Burrhus Frederic
Skinner
• The  Behavioral  Psychologist
• Strict  empiricist  view  is  
reflected  in  the  work  of  the  
behaviorist  Skinner
• Skinner's  philosophy  is  found  
to  be  a  version  of  
materialistic  monism  and  
radical  empiricism.
Cont.

• His  learning  theory  states  that a  

person  is  exposed  to  a  stimulus,  
which  evokes  a  response,  and  then   Skinner’s Box

the  response  is  reinforced

• Learning  and  behavior  change  are  the  
result  of  reinforcement  and  
punishment.
• Operant  Conditioning  Theory
Rationalism & Empiricism
EMPIRICISM RATIONALISM
• Knowledge  is  based  on   • Knowledge is based on the use of
experience  and  experimentation. reason or logic.
• Experimental  science  is  the   • Mathematics is the paradigm of
paradigm  of  knowledge. knowledge.
• Experience  and  experiment   • Genuine knowledge is certain.
rarely,  if  ever,  produce  certainty. • Relation to experience:
• Some  empiricists  believe  that   • Experience does not produce
mathematics  can  be  certain. certainty and does not conform to
reason.
• Research then theory
• Thus, experience is at best second-
class knowledge.
•Theory-­then-­research  strategy
Early 20th Century Views of
Science and Theory

• Philosophers  focused  on  the  analysis  of  theory  structure,  

whereas  scientist  focused  on empirical  research

• Positivism  (imposed  on  the  mind  by  experience)  is  the  

philosophy  of  science  that  information  is  derived  from  logical  
and  mathematical  treatments  and  reports  of,  and  reports  of  
sensory  experience  is  the  exclusive  source  of  all  authoritative  
knowledge.
Early 20th Century Views of
Science and Theory
• Modern  logical  positivists  believed  that  empirical  
research  and  logical  analysis  were  two  
approaches  that  would  produce  scientific  
knowledge.
• Logical  positivists  hailed  the  system  of  symbolic  
logic,  published  from  1910  to  1913  by  Whitehead  
and  Russell,  as  an  appropriate  approach  to  
discovering  truth  
Emergent Views of Science &
Theory in the Late 20th Century
• Empiricists argue that for science to maintain its objectivity, data collection
and analysis must be independent of a theory.
• Brown argues that the new epistemology challenged the empiricist view of
perception by acknowledging that theories play a significant role in
determining what the scientist will observe and how it will be interpreted. He
identified 3 different views of the relationship between theories and
observation:
1. Scientists are merely passive observers of occurrences in the
empirical world. Observable data are objective truth waiting to be
discovered
2. Theories structure what the scientists perceived in the empirical world
3. Presupposed theories and observable data interact in the process
of scientific investigation
Interdependence between Theory
and Research
• A  theory  should  be  judged   • Dubin  identified  when  scientific  
consensus  is  necessary:
based  on  scientific  
consensus. 1. on  the  boundaries  of  the  
theory,  the  phenomenon  it  
• The  acceptance  of  scientific   addresses  and  what  it  excludes
hypothesis  through   2. on  the  logic  used  in  
research  depends  on  the   constructing  the  theory  to  further  
understanding  from  a  similar  
appraisal  of  the  coherence   perspective
of  theory. 3. that  the  theory  fits  the  data  
collected  and  analyzed  though  
research
Issues in Nursing Philosophy and
Science Development

• Progress  in  the  Discipline  of  Nursing  (Meleis)

1. Practice
2. Education  and  Administration
3. Research
• Development  of  Nursing  Theory  Peplau  developed  the  first  theory  of  nursing  
practice  in  her  book,  Interpersonal  Relations  in  Nursing  (1952)
• Journal  of  Nursing  Research  (1952)
• 1960s  and  1970s  -­ analysis  and  debate  on  he  metatheoretical  issues  related  
to  theory  development
Issues in Nursing Philosophy and
Science Development

• Postpositivism focuses  on  discovering  the  patterns  that  may  describe  a  

phenomena.
• Interpretive  paradigm  tends  to  promote  understanding  by  addressing  the  
meanings  the  participants  social  interaction  that  emphasize  situation,  context  
and  multiple  cognitive  constructions  that  individuals  create  on  everyday  events.
• Critical  paradigm  for  knowledge  development  in  nursing,  provides  framework  
for  Inquiring  about  the  interaction  between  the  social,  political,  economic,  gender  
and  cultural  factors  and  experiences  of  health  and  illness.
THANK  YOU!!!

GUTIERREZ/FERNANDEZ/ONATO