HISTORY AND

PHILOSOPHY OF
SCIENCE

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

 “Philosophy in its broadest sense is wondering and being curious about the
‘big’ or fundamental questions thathumans have grappled with throughout
history. Questions about ‘what is real?’ (ontology), ‘what is
knowable?’(epistemology), ‘is this just?’ (ethics), and ‘is there an art to
caring?’ (aesthetics) are considered indispensablereflections in nursing
practice”
(Bruce, Rietze, & Lim, 2014, p. 65)

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

 Modern science was
established over 400
years ago as an
intellectual activity to
formalize given
phenomena of interest in
an attempt to describe,
explain, predict, or
control states of affairs in
nature. Scientific activity
has persisted because it
has improved quality of
life and has satisfied
human needs for
creative work, a sense of
order, and the desire to
understand the unknown
FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING
(Bronowski, 1979; Gale,
1ST SEM 2020-2021
1979; Piaget, 1970)
Nursing as a Science
Science is logical, systematic, &
coherent way to solve problems
and answer questions.
It is a collection of facts known in
area and the process used to
obtain that knowledge.
•Pure or basic
•Natural, human, or social
•Applied or practical

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

Nursing and Philosophy
Philosophy studies concepts that structure thought
processes, foundations, and presumptions.
It is an approach for thinking about the nature of people,
the methods that should be used to create a scientific knowledge
and the ethics involved. It denotes a perspective, implying a
certain broad, “taken for granted” assumptions.
•Nature of existence
•Morality
•Knowledge and reason
•Human purpose
FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021
EPISTEMOLOGY
– a branch of philosophy that is
concerned with the nature and scope
of knowledge. It is referred to as the
‘theory of knowledge’
•The power of reason and power
of sensory experience (Gale)
•The theory of knowledge for
understanding how to uncover the
answer to a question.
•Epistemology is concerned with the
theory of knowledge in philosophical
inquiry.

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

 Nursing science has been characterized by two branching
philosophies of knowledge as the discipline developed. Various
terms are used to describe these two stances:
1. empiricist, mechanistic, quantitative, and deductive
2. Interpretive, holistic, qualitative and inductive from science.

Understanding the nature of these different philosophical stances facilitates appreciation for what
each form contributes to nursing knowledge.

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

RATIONALISM
Rationalism makes use of reason gained
thru expert study, tested theory and
established facts to evidently prove
something.
•’the power of reason’
•Rationalist epistemology emphasizes
the importance of a priori reasoning as the
appropriate method for advancing
knowledge.
•Theory-then-research strategy
(Reynolds)
•Einstein made use of mathematical
equations in developing his theories.

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

Rationalist epistemology (scope of knowledge) emphasizes the
importance of a priori reasoning as the appropriate method for
advancing knowledge.
◦ A priori reasoning utilizes deductive logic by reasoning from the cause
to an effect or from a generalization to a particular instance. An
example in nursing is to reason that a lack of social support (cause) will
result in hospital readmission (effect). This causal reasoning is a theory
until disproven. The traditional approach proceeds by explaining
hospitalization with a systematic explanation (theory) of a given
phenomenon (Gale, 1979)
FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021
RATIONALISM
Deductive type of reasoning
◦ Is used to generate rationalist view which starts from the general
to specific knowledge.
e.g. the use of Evidence-Based Nursing(EBN) and Nursing
Research that make use of a general or broad concept that
needs to be studied and understand thru different supplemental
materials.
It is highly important in nursing to emphasize that planned
Interventions must have reasons prior to the actual
implementation.

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

RATIONALISM

It emphasizes the use of reasoning for the main purpose

of knowing the harm or benefits of an act to an
individual.

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

EMPIRICISM
Empiricism makes use of objective and tangible data or
those that are perceived by the senses (sight, smell, taste and
feeling) to observe and collect data.
These data are then used to formulate general knowledge,
which is the use Inductive type of reasoning. In nursing, the use of
empiricism is highly important in the assessment of patients all
throughout the entire nursing process.

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

EMPIRICISM
- the power of sensory experience
•Francis Bacon believed that scientific knowledge was
discovered through the generalization of observed facts
in the natural world.
•Research-then-theory
•Skinner’s work focuses on collection of empirical data

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

 Deductive inquiry uses the theory-then research
approach, and inductive inquiry uses the research- then
theory approach. Both approaches are used in the field
of nursing.

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021
EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY VIEWS
OF SCIENCE AND THEORY
1. Philosophers focused on the analysis of theory structure,
whereas scientist focused on empirical research.
During the first half of this century, philosophers focused on
the analysis of theory structure, whereas scientists focused on
empirical research (Brown,1977).
There was minimal interest in the history of science, the
nature of scientific discovery, or the similarities between the
philosophical view of science and the scientific methods (Brown,
1977).
FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021
2. Positivism (imposed on the mind by experience) is the
philosophy of science that information is derived from logical and
mathematical treatments and reports of sensory experience is the
exclusive source of all authoritative knowledge.
Positivism, a term first used by Comte, emerged as the
dominant view of modern science (Gale, 1979).
Positivism is often equated with empiricism. Both supports
mechanistic, reductionist principles, where the complex can be
best understood in terms of its basic components (Gortner, 1993).

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

 Logical positivism was the dominant empirical philosophy of
science between the 1880s and 1950s.
3. The logical positivist believed that, empirical research and
logical analysis would produce scientific knowledge.
Logical positivists recognize only the logical and empirical
bases of science and stressed that there is no room for
metaphysics, understanding, or meaning within the realm of
science (Polifroni & Welch, 1999).

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

 Logical positivism maintained that science is value free,
independent of the scientist, and obtained using objective
methods.
The goal of science is to explain, predict, and control.
Theories are either true or false, subject to empirical observation,
and capable of being reduced to existing scientific theories
(Riegel et al., 1992; Rutty, 1998).

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

4. Logical empiricist argued that theoretical propositions must be
tested through observation and experimentation.

5. Empiricists argue that for science to maintain its objectivity, data

collection and analysis must be independent of a theory.

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

6. Brown argues that the new epistemology challenged the
empiricist view of perception by acknowledging that theories play
a significant role in determining what the scientist will observe and
how it will be interpreted.

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

Brown identified 3 different views of the relationship between theories
and observation:
1. Scientists are merely passive observers of occurrences in the
empirical world. Observable data are objective truth waiting to
be discovered.
2. Theories structure what the scientists perceived in the empirical world.
3. Presupposed theories and observable data interact in the process of
scientific investigation.

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

EMERGENT VIEWS OF SCIENCE AND THEORY
IN THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY

In the latter years of the twentieth century, several authors

presented analyses challenging the positivist position, thus offering
the basis for a new perspective of science (Brown, 1977; Foucault,
1973; Hanson, 1958; Kuhn, 1962; Toulmin, 1961). Foucault (1973)

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

 Foucault (1973) published his analysis of the epistemology (knowledge)
of human sciences from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. His major
thesis stated that empirical knowledge was arranged in different patterns at a
given time and in a given culture and that humans where emerging as objects
of study.
In The Phenomenology of the Social World, Schutz (1967) argued that
scientists seeking to understand the social world could not cognitively know an
external world that is independent of their own life experiences.
Phenomenology, set forth by Edmund Husserl (1859 to 1938) proposed that the
objectivism of science could not provide an adequate apprehension of the
world (Husserl 1931, 1970).
A phenomenological approach reduces observations or text to the
meanings of phenomena independent of their particular context. This
approach focuses on the lived meaning of experiences.
FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021
 One of the major perspectives in the new philosophy
emphasized science as a process of continuing research rather
than a product focused on findings.

Empiricists view phenomena objectively, collect data, and

analyze it to inductively proposed theory (Brown, 1977). This
position is based upon objective truth existing in the world, waiting
to be discovered.

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

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 observations are
concept laden; that is, an observation is influenced by
values and ideas in the mind of the observer:

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

 “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.”

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

 REFERENCES
1. Alligood, M.R., (2018).Nursing Theorists & Their Work (9th Ed.). St.
Louis: Mosby-Elsevier.
2. Alligood, M.R., (2018).Nursing Theorists & Their Work (8th Ed.). St.
Louis: Mosby-Elsevier.
3. McEwen, M., & Wills, E. M. (2014). Theoretical basis for nursing.
Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott/Williams & Wilkins.

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021

END OF SLIDES

FREDELYN G. BICLAR RN, MN THEORETICAL FOUNDATION IN NURSING 1ST SEM 2020-2021