Page 275 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

C ar it as cu rr icu lu m a n d t ea c h i n g-l ea r n i n g
tion, superiority). This form of knowledge development as often prac-
ticed in institutions of higher learning has “lent itself to subtle and
pervasive forms of violence,” to our personal, social, and professional
ontological being, our epistemology informing our ethics, our human
mode of living (2004:2).
By “violence,” Palmer means more subtle forms than dropping a
bomb or hitting someone physically. Rather, he refers to violence asso-
ciated with “violating the integrity” of the other, whether the other
is the earth, another human being, or another culture. This mode of
learning and knowledge is tied up with the Western academy empha-
sis on three dominant ways of thinking, teaching, and learning, which
according to Palmer (2004) are intended to guide our professional and
personal lives: “objective, analytic, and experimental.”
Each of these three dominant ways of learning, of valuing, of
teaching, of knowing is critiqued by Palmer in his classic paper pre-
sented at the 2004 USA Fetzer Institute–sponsored conference, “21st
Century Learning Initiatives.” He points out the misguided myth that
one cannot know anything truly well unless it is held at arm’s length,
at a distance, at great remove from self—thus perpetuating a chasm
between the knower and the known. This myth reinforces the belief
that knowledge is tainted, distorted, and untrustworthy if close to the
individual; thus, one cannot possibly generate valid knowledge from a
personal connection with the data or information.

oBjectivisM as Mythic episteMology—episteMology-as-ethic
Within this mythic epistemological system of knowledge, of learn-
ing, of valuing, of teaching as objective, Palmer reminds us that we
create a profound fear of subjectivity, a fear of relatedness, of enter-
ing into a relationship with that which we know. Using the metaphors
of the Gulf War and the Vietnam War, he points out different expla-
nations of the approaches related to objectivity and subjectivity. For
example, the Gulf War, in which tens of thousands of noncombatants
were murdered, was a largely acceptable war to the majority of the
American public because it was fought from a distance, detached and
removed, because it was an air war conducted at arm’s length through
the miracles of electronics and engineering and new technology. Thus,

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