About the place of philosophy in nursing - a non-philosophical point of view - delivered at Worcester University Nursing Philosophy Conference 2017

1. Philosophy in nursing:
what have the Romans
ever done for us?
The 21st International Philosophy of Nursing Conference
University of Worcester
31 August – 2 September 2017
Roger Watson
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Advanced Nursing

2. What have the Romans ever done for us?

4. Philosophy and (in/of?) nursing
• Some important people
• Some important articles
• Some important issues
• Some genuine concerns

5. Some important people

6. Some more important people

7. Methods
• Hemeneutics
• Phenomenology
• Grounded theory
• Narrative analysis

8. Materials
• Google Scholar
• JAN webpage
Methods
- Searched JAN for articles related to ‘philosophy’ and then
chose the ones I liked

9. But first….
“The hermeneutic circle is a metaphor taken from Heidegger to
describe the experience of moving dialectically between the part and
the whole However, Gadamer places a stronger emphasis on
language Gadamer claims language and history supply the shared
sphere in the hermeneutic circle Gadamer's ontological perspective
suggests that understanding is a mode of being, so that when he talks
about understanding he is talking about existence.”

12. Griffin (1980 & 1983)
• Not a nurse and apparently not working in a nursing context
• Early interest in the nature of caring evident
Referring to educational research in nursing (1980):
“…it gives me the chance to state that 'the objectives approach'
as a major research tool can be condemned with little
reservation”

14. Woods & Edwards (1989)
• Explored ideas that were ahead of their time in terms of
pointing to patient- and person-centred care
“The person in our care must not be ‘objectified’ either by our
language or our behaviour. Although we earlier called upon
philosophy to provide us with objectivity, it is of the sort that
enables constructive criticism of our language and behaviour
and does not remove us from those individuals who provide
the meaning to our care.”

15. Woods & Edwards (1989)
• Explored ideas that were ahead of their time in terms of
pointing to patient- and person-centred care
“The person in our care must not be ‘objectified’ either by our
language or our behaviour. Although we earlier called upon
philosophy to provide us with objectivity, it is of the sort that
enables constructive criticism of our language and behaviour
and does not remove us from those individuals who provide
the meaning to our care.”

16. .

17. Rolfe (1994)
• Proposed levels of research which were distinct in terms of
generating information and implementing information in
practice
“…the purpose of nursing research should not be, as Field and
Morse and many other researchers claim, to develop nursing
knowledge, but to develop nursing practice.”

18. Rolfe (1994)
• Proposed levels of research which were distinct in terms of
generating information and implementing information in
practice
“…the purpose of nursing research should not be, as Field and
Morse and many other researchers claim, to develop nursing
knowledge, but to develop nursing practice.”

20. Paley (1996)
• “How IS this to be accomplished? By what means can the
concept of collaboration, or any other concept relevant to
nursing, be clarified? How can we ensure that the use of such
terms becomes appropriately unambiguous? I have not been
able to find convincing answers to these questions, and the
procedure adopted by all the authors I have referred to is far
from being self-explanatory.”

21. Paley (1996)
• “How IS this to be accomplished? By what means can the
concept of collaboration, or any other concept relevant to
nursing, be clarified? How can we ensure that the use of such
terms becomes appropriately unambiguous? I have not been
able to find convincing answers to these questions, and the
procedure adopted by all the authors I have referred to is far
from being self-explanatory.”

23. Edwards (1997)
“At the start of this paper two possible audiences were referred
to, philosophers and nurses theorists. It is hoped that the
above articulation of philosophy of nursing will persuade those
philosophers who are sceptical of the legitimacy of such an
enterprise that it is founded upon respectable and
fundamental philosophical traditions.
These include the activities of conceptual analysis and
assessment of argument, concern with general existence and
knowledge questions…”

24. Edwards (1997)
“At the start of this paper two possible audiences were referred
to, philosophers and nurses theorists. It is hoped that the
above articulation of philosophy of nursing will persuade those
philosophers who are sceptical of the legitimacy of such an
enterprise that it is founded upon respectable and
fundamental philosophical traditions.
These include the activities of conceptual analysis and
assessment of argument, concern with general existence and
knowledge questions…”

26. Rutty (1998)
• Tied in to nurses’ professionalism and how that should
develop

28. • This paper killed two Watsons with one stone:

30. Paley (2002)
“(caring)…should be regarded as more of a vice: it encourages
favouritism, creates injustice, provokes inefficiency, and tends
to self-deception, infantilization and paternalism.”

31. Paley (2002)
“(caring)…should be regarded as more of a vice: it encourages
favouritism, creates injustice, provokes inefficiency, and tends
to self-deception, infantilization and paternalism.”

33. Rolfe (2006)
“We need either to acknowledge that the commonly perceived
quantitative–qualitative dichotomy is in fact a continuum
which requires a continuum of quality criteria, or to recognize
that each study is individual and unique, and that the task of
producing frameworks and predetermined criteria for
assessing the quality of research studies is futile.”

34. Rolfe (2006)
“We need either to acknowledge that the commonly perceived
quantitative–qualitative dichotomy is in fact a continuum
which requires a continuum of quality criteria, or to recognize
that each study is individual and unique, and that the task of
producing frameworks and predetermined criteria for
assessing the quality of research studies is futile.”

36. Paley (2014)
“Methods more in keeping with Heidegger’s philosophy
include observation, naturalistic experiments, some forms of
discourse analysis and conceptually associated lines of enquiry
involving vocabularies of motive, scripts and the performative
aspects of language use.
Implications for Nursing. Nursing researchers who wish to
embrace Heidegger’s philosophy as a basis for their work
should abandon ‘lived experience’ interviews and adopt one of
the alternative methods suggested above.”

37. Paley (2014)
“Methods more in keeping with Heidegger’s philosophy
include observation, naturalistic experiments, some forms of
discourse analysis and conceptually associated lines of enquiry
involving vocabularies of motive, scripts and the performative
aspects of language use.
Implications for Nursing. Nursing researchers who wish to
embrace Heidegger’s philosophy as a basis for their work
should abandon ‘lived experience’ interviews and adopt one of
the alternative methods suggested above.”

39. Lipscomb (2014)
“(Paley)…prompts all of us to think through the role that
theory performs in nursing research/scholarship. For
example, do we invoke theory because it is integral to the
argument being presented, or, is theory sometimes ‘confettied’
onto research haphazardly to meet publication expectations?”

40. Lipscomb (2014)
“(Paley)…prompts all of us to think through the role that
theory performs in nursing research/scholarship. For
example, do we invoke theory because it is integral to the
argument being presented, or, is theory sometimes ‘confettied’
onto research haphazardly to meet publication expectations?”

41. So what have philosophers done for us?
• They’ve ‘taken and interest’
• Challenged sloppy thinking
• Injected ‘reality checks’ into debates
• Linked research to practice

42. What more could philosophers do for us?
• Help us to sort out the present mess in nursing
– Graduates versus non-graduates
– New routes into nursing
– Infiltration by e.g. CAM, TCM, etc

43. Some genuine concerns
• Will there continue to be a place for philosophical writing in
disciplines/subjects – other than philosophy?
• Will philosophical writing in nursing be maintained in the
face of the ‘new scholarship’ of social media?
• Will philosophical writing in nursing survive in the new
landscape of academic publishing?

44. The new scholarship
• Social media
– Twitter
– Facebook
– Blogging/Vlogging
– Podcasting/Vodcasting
• Research project registration
• Data repositories
• The Conversation

45. The new publishing landscape

46. I have a dream

47. Every research project
• Should be required to have:
– Statistician
– Health economist
– Philosopher

48. Every editorial board
• Should have:
– Statistician
– Health economist
– Philosopher

49. Every philosopher
• Has a:
– Twitter site
– Blog
– Podcast site

50. r.watson@hull.ac.uk
0000-0001-8040-7625
@rwatson1955