Abstract

A magnificent chaos: feminist (nursing) comments on Western philosophyThis paper primarily concerns feminists' problems with Western philosophy and the implications of these for nursing. My interest arises from some reading of philosophy and a profound disenchantment with its male bias. As Susan Moller Okin says, readers should not be misled by the use of supposedly generic terms like ‘mankindrsquo; and allegedly inclusive pronouns, into thinking philosophers intended to refer to the whole human race. Moira Gatens takes the view that feminists cannot ignore the frameworks and assumptions of traditional philosophy and identifies three major ways in which the relationship between feminist theory and philosophical discourse can be characterized. In contrasting Gatens' thesis with a nursing case in point about ways of viewing disciplines, some ideas emerge for nurses to find positive ways forward in the philosophical enterprise. The topic extends to feminists' reactions to postmodern thinking and subsequent questions raised by these for nurses and nursing.