Humanism and positivism in nursing: contradictions and conflicts

Nursing and nurse education have been influenced by a shift towards a broadly humanistic philosophy as a basis for practice At the same time, in attempts to develop a knowledge base and credibility as a profession, the vital importance of research has been acknowledged Both these aspects of nursing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of advanced nursing 1995-11, Vol.22 (5), p.979-984
Main Author: Playle, John F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Conflict (Psychology)
Education, Nursing
Humanism
Humans
Medical sciences
Miscellaneous
Nursing
Nursing Care
Nursing Research
Nursing Theory
Philosophy, Nursing
Positivism
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Relationship
Science
Teaching. Deontology. Ethics. Legislation
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Summary:Nursing and nurse education have been influenced by a shift towards a broadly humanistic philosophy as a basis for practice At the same time, in attempts to develop a knowledge base and credibility as a profession, the vital importance of research has been acknowledged Both these aspects of nursing are increasingly forming the basis for all nursing courses However, in this paper, it is argued that the implicit adoption of notions of science based in a positivistic paradigm gives rise to conflicts with a humanistic philosophy It is contended that nursing has inherited a ‘legacy of positivism’, which promotes objectivity and reductionism and which excludes subjective meaning and the personal from the research process In part this has been due to the powerful influence of medical hegemony, which has defined the nature of legitimate knowledge and controlled nursing research through the gatekeeping function of doctors If nursing is to make progress in the development of a knowledge base, the contradictions between humanism and positivism must be acknowledged as a barrier to an integration of the art and science of nursing This paper suggests that what is required is a paradigm shift, a redefinition of nursing science, which not only rehumanizes the nature of research, but also refutes and challenges the notion of objectivity and the objective attitude
ISSN:0309-2402
1365-2648
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2648.1995.tb02651.x