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CHAPTER 9 Patricia Benner 129

significant whole in terms of its constituent parts understand nursing practice as the care and study of the
deprives it of any purpose or meaning. lived experience of health, illness, and disease and the
• People who share a common cultural and language relationships among these three elements.
history have a background of common meanings
that allow for understanding and interpretation. Person
Heidegger (1962) refers to this as primordial un- Benner and Wrubel (1989) use Heidegger’s phenom-
derstanding, after the writings of Dilthey (1976) enological description of person, which they describe
in the late 1800s and early 1900s, asserting that as “A person is a self-interpreting being, that is, the
cultural organization and meanings precede and person does not come into the world predefined but
influence individual understanding. gets defined in the course of living a life. A person also
• The meanings embedded in skills, practices, in- has . . . an effortless and nonreflective understanding
tentions, expectations, and outcomes cannot be of the self in the world” (p. 41). “The person is viewed
made completely explicit; however, they can be as a participant in common meanings”(Benner &
interpreted by someone who shares a similar Wrubel, 1989, p. 23).
language and cultural background and can be Finally, the person is embodied. Benner and Wrubel
validated consensually by participants and rele- (1989) conceptualized the following four major aspects
vant practitioners. Humans are self-interpreting of understanding that the person must deal with:
beings (Heidegger, 1962). Hermeneutics is the 1. The role of the situation
interpretation of cultural contexts and meaning- 2. The role of the body
ful human action. 3. The role of personal concerns
• Humans are integrated, holistic beings. The 4. The role of temporality
mind-body split is abandoned. Embodied intelli- Together, these aspects of the person make up the
gence enables skilled activity that is transformed person in the world. This view of the person is based on
through experience and mastery (Dreyfus & the works of Heidegger (1962), Merleau-Ponty (1962),
Dreyfus, 1980; Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1986). Benner and Dreyfus (1979, 1991). Their goal is to overcome
stated, “This model assumes that all practical sit- Cartesian dualism, the view that the mind and body are
uations are far more complex than can be de- distinct, separate entities (Visintainer, 1988).
scribed by formal models, theories and textbook Benner and Wrubel (1989) define embodiment as the
descriptions” (1984a, p. 178). The hierarchical capacity of the body to respond to meaningful situa-
elevation of intellectual, reflective activity above tions. Based on the work of Merleau-Ponty (1962),
embodied skilled activity ignores the point that Dreyfus (1979, 1991), and Dreyfus and Dreyfus (1986),
skilled action is a way of knowing and that the they outline the following five dimensions of the body
skilled body may be essential for the more highly (Benner & Wrubel, 1989):
esteemed levels of human intelligence (Dreyfus, 1. The unborn complex, unacculturated body of the
1979). fetus and newborn baby
Benner and her collaborators explicated the 2. The habitual skilled body complete with socially
themes of nursing, person, situation, and health in learned postures, gestures, customs, and skills
their publications. evident in bodily skills such as sense perception
and “body language” that are “learned over time
Nursing through identification, imitation, and trial and
Nursing is described as a caring relationship, an “en- error” (Benner & Wrubel, 1989, p. 71)
abling condition of connection and concern” (Benner & 3. The projective body that is set (predisposed) to act in
Wrubel, 1989, p. 4). “Caring is primary because caring specific situations (e.g., opening a door or walking)
sets up the possibility of giving help and receiving help” 4. The actual projected body indicating an individu-
(Benner & Wrubel, 1989, p. 4). “Nursing is viewed al’s current bodily orientation or projection in a
as a caring practice whose science is guided by the situation that is flexible and varied to fit the situa-
moral art and ethics of care and responsibility” (Benner tion, such as when an individual is skillful in using
& Wrubel, 1989, p. xi). Benner and Wrubel (1989) a computer