Page 232 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

I nt EG ral M odEl f o r G ra s P I nG nE E d s In C ar it a s n u r s i n g
Table 16.1 Wilber’s Four-Quadrant Model (from Wilber 1998)
Interior: Upper left Exterior: Upper right
Subjective meaning–inner-life world; Objective-external physical world
phenomenological view; incorporates Outer-world information, measurement
spirit realm Judgments of observations
“I” Knowledge/Knowing “It” Knowledge/Knowing
Location of intentionality, interpretive Location of behavioral, she/he biological
consciousness, and often unmeasurable observable realm
realm of invisible inner states of mind,
thoughts, consciousness
Interior/Intersubjective/Collective: Lower left Interobjective/Exterior Collective: Lower right
Collective meaning; social, cultural norms Social-community outer-world views
“We” Knowledge/Knowing “It”–“They” Knowledge/Knowing
“Our” (tribal-group) perspective, interior Visible norms, communal, environment,
We/Our; invisible web of worldviews, social systems
morals, religion, spiritual beliefs, myths, Collective behaviors of group, family (pro-
archetypes, magic realm fessions), village, nation-state, planetary
Symbolic meanings, historic influences,
metaphoric associations

integration of the immanent with the transcendent-transpersonal, the
sacred with the ordinary (Watson 2005).
The four-quadrant model offers a framework for most basic views
of subjective/objective, individual/collective, insider/outsider tem-
plates for understanding core components of a given process, phe-
nomenon, or practice at a given point in time.
Within Wilber’s integral framework, he acknowledges that we
need knowledge and practices in all four quadrants. However, within
the practice arena, nursing has historically tended to locate itself profes-
sionally with the right side of the quadrant, while within the academic
world, some of the most rapidly evolving disciplinary-theoretical work
tends to lean toward the left side of the quadrant.
In reality, we need the integral, comprehensive approach for Caring
Science and notions of Caritas practitioners. This broader framework
acknowledges and systematically allows for all ways of knowing as
well as for evolving ways of knowing yet to be named and explored
(Jarrin 2006), allowing for different levels of development, different
levels of consciousness evolution, different intelligences—moral and

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