Phronesis, a popular Aristotelian concept that emphasizes deliberation and moral action, should replace the phrase ‘research‐based practice’ as the guiding light for nursing practice. Knowledge from research is still essential, of course, but is insufficient by itself for practice. In this paper, the author describes assumptions behind the apparent superiority of research‐based knowledge, and offers a critique of this position. One critique is that by automatically accepting the superiority of research‐based knowledge other types of knowledge (e.g. intuitive, ethical, personal) are (...) devalued. A second critique is that undeliberated, indiscriminate use of research findings may lead to inappropriate nursing practice.Phronesisis then described, and its application to nursing. For example,phronesisrequires that the context of the situation be considered very carefully before acting. Aristotle stated that the goal of personalphronesisis to reacheudaimonia, or genuine happiness or ‘human flourishing’. Infusing nursing practice withphronesismeans that an anthropomorphized discipline'seudaimoniawould be theeudaimoniaof patients. That is, nursing practice would be guided by a desire for patients' genuine happiness or human flourishing. The final section of the paper offers rebuttals to potential criticisms. (shrink)

Paul Ricoeur and Michel Foucault enjoy a privileged status in nursing academia as two thinkers who influence both nursing research and philosophical explorations of nursing practice. Most nurse authors, however, focus only on the earlier works of these two philosophers and, for example, base qualitative research methodologies on Foucault's genealogy and Ricoeur's hermeneutics. In their later years, both these writers talk more explicitly about being an ethical self. Ideas from their earlier writing is evident in their writing on ethics and (...) both writers could not discuss ethics without also exploring their ideas of the self and the other. I suggest that some of their thoughts on ethics connect with or complement each other quite well. I will first give an overview of Foucault's ethics, self and the other, and then do the same with Ricoeur's thought. In the third part of the paper I will describe how Foucault and Ricoeur complement each other, and conclude the paper by briefly suggesting how these writers influence my own practice as a nurse educator. (shrink)

By understanding the constructions of knowledge we currently label nursing theories as nursing ontologies, nurses can perceive these conceptualizations differently. Paul Ricoeur and Stephen White offer a conceptualization of ontology that differs from traditional, realist perspectives because they assume that a person's experience of a phenomenon (e.g., nursing) will change, but also maintain some stability. Discussing nursing ontologies, rather than nursing theories, might increase philosophy's status in nursing and may also more accurately reflect the experience of being a nurse.