o What is science, knowledge, and

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS OF THEORY IN

truth?
NURSING
o What methods produce scientific
“Why should nurses be interested in the history and knowledge?
philosophy of science? The history and philosophy of The answers to these questions are influenced
science is important as a foundation for exploring by one’s philosophy.
whether scientific results are actually truth. As nurses The particular philosophical perspective
our practice should be based upon truth and we need selected to answer the questions will influence
the ability to interpret the results of science. Nursing how researchers perform scientific activities,
science provides us with knowledge to describe, how they interpret outcomes, and even what
explain and predict outcomes. The legitimacy of any they regard as science and knowledge
profession is built on its ability to generate and apply (Brown,1977; Foucalt,1973)
theory.” Two competing philosophical perspectives
used in science are RATIONALISM &
(McCrae, 2011, p. 222) EMPIRICISM. Each is a type of epistemology
that is a theory of knowledge for understanding
how to uncover the answer to a question.
Nursing science has been characterized by
“Philosophy in its broadest sense is wondering and two branching philosophies of knowledge as
being curios about the BIG or FUNDAMENTAL the discipline developed.
QUESTIONS that humans have grappled with Various terms are used to describe
throughout history.’ Questions about: these 2 stances:
o Empiricist, mechanistic quantitative
WHAT IS REAL? (Ontology)
and deductive
WHAT IS KNOWABLE? (Epistemology) o Interpretive, holistic, qualitative, and
inductive forms of science.
IS THIS JUST? (Ethics) and Understanding the nature of these different
philosophical stances facilitates appreciation
IS THERE AN ART OF CARING? (Aesthetics) are for what each form contributes to nursing
considered indispensable reflections in nursing knowledge.
practice.”
RATIONALISM
(Bruce, Rietze and Lim, 2014, p.65)
Is the epistemological view that “regards
HISTORICAL VIEWS OF THE NATURE OF REASON as the chief sources and test of
SCIENCE knowledge” OR any view appealing to reason
as a source of knowledge or justification. It is a
Why is science important? Science is a
methodology or a theory “in which the criterion
method for describing, explaining, and
of truth is not sensory but intellectual and
predicting causes or outcomes of
deductive”.
interventions.
Rationalist epistemology (scope of
Scientific activity has helped to established the
knowledge) emphasizes the importance of a
evidence we use to guide
priori reasoning as the appropriate method for
practice in the delivery of nursing care.
advancing knowledge.
We desire to know the unknown, and identify
A priori reasoning uses deductive logic by
the cause, the effect, and the significance
reasoning from cause and effect or from a
difference that an intervention can make to
generalization to a particular instance.
increase the longevity of life. (Bronowski,
1979; Gale ,1979; Piaget,1970).
EMPIRICISM
Since 1960s, nursing leaders have strategized
for nursing to be considered a scientific Is the theory that the origin of all knowledge is
discipline. sensory experience (seeing, feeding, hearing
Being a scientific discipline means identifying facts, etc.
nursing’s unique knowledge for the care of It emphasizes the role of experience and
patients, families, and communities and evidence, especially sensory perception in the
populations. formation of ideas, and argues that the only
To formalize the science of nursing, basic knowledge humans can have is a posteriori
questions must be considered, such as: (based on experience).
 Empiricist view that, to build a more complex Philosophers focused on the analysis of theory
body of knowledge from these direct structure, whereas scientist focused on
observation, induction or inductive reasoning empirical research.
(making generalizations based on individual Positivism (imposed on the mind by
instances) must be used. experience) is the philosophy of science that
information is derived from logical and
RATIONALISM mathematical treatments and reports of
sensory experience is the exclusive source of
Reason is the source of all knowledge all authoritative knowledge.
Mind contains innate ideas The logical positivist believed that, empirical
Knowledge can be gained a priori research and logical analysis would produce
(deductive logic) scientific knowledge.
Knowledge can be certain
Logical empiricist argued that theoretical
Senses are easily fooled
Uses theory-then-research strategy propositions must be tested through
observation and experimentation.
EMPIRICISM Empiricists argue that for science to maintain
its objectivity, data collection and analysis
The senses are the source of all knowledge must be independent of a theory.
Mind is a “tabular rasa” (for clean state) A new perspective in science emerged as
Biology is a model for knowledge several authors presented analyses,
Knowledge is only gained a posteriori challenging the positivist position.
(inductive method) Foucault presented his major thesis which
Knowledge can ever be probable
believes that empirical knowledge was
Reasons only can give us access to
uninformative tautologies arranged in different patterns at a given time
Uses research-then-theory strategy and in a given culture and that humans were
emerging as objects of study.
In 1977, Brown argued for an intellectual
revolution in philosophy that emphasized the
history of science was replacing formal logic
as the major analytical tool in the philosophy of
science.
One of the major perspectives in the new
philosophy emphasized that science was a
process of continuously building research
rather than a product of findings.
Brown (1977) proposed that theories play a
significant role in determining what the
scientist observes and how it is interpreted.
VIEWS OF SCIENCE & THEORY IN THE Nurses use evidence-based science to support
EARLY 20TH CENTURY the intervention performed in the care of
patients.
POSITIVISM which supports that that Foucault (1973) published his analysis of the
empirical research and logical analyses epistemology (knowledge) of human sciences
(deductive & inductive) were two approaches from the seventeenth to the nineteenth
that would produce scientific knowledge century.
(Brown, 1977). In The Phenomenology of the Social World,
The logical empiricists argued that theoretical Schutz (1967) argued that scientists seeking
propositions must be tested through to understand the social world could not
observation and experimentation (Brown cognitively know an external world that is
,1977). independent of their own life experiences.
This perspective rooted in the idea that Phenomenology, set forth by Edmund
empirical facts exist independently of theories Husserl (1859 to 1938) proposed that the
and offer the only basis for the objectivity in objectivism of science could not provide an
science. adequate apprehension of the world (Husserl
In this view, objective truth exists 1931, 1970).
independently of the researcher , and the task Empiricists view phenomena objectively,
of science is to discover it, which is an collect data, and analyze it to inductively
inductive method. proposed theory (Brown, 1977).
 Brown (1977) set forth a new epistemology
challenging the empiricist view proposing that
theories play a significant role in determining
what the scientist observes and how it is
interpreted.

THE FOLLOWING STORY ILLUSTRATES

BROWN’S PREMISE THAT OBSERVATION S
ARE CONCEPT LADEN

“An elderly patient has been in a trauma and appears

to be crying. The nurse on admission observes that the
patient has marks on her body and believes that she
has been abused; the orthopedist has viewed an x-ray
and believes that the crying patient is in pain due to a
fractured femur that will not require surgery only a
closed reduction; the chaplain observes the patient
crying and believes the patient needs spiritual support.
Each observation is concept laden.”