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152 UNIT II Nursing Philosophies

prescientific, what we encounter in the natural atti- two parts as a precondition. One is concerned and
tude, when we are directed toward something with the anxious for the other. Caring involves how we relate to
intent to recognize and understand it meaningfully. each other, and how we show concern for each other
Phenomenology insists upon context, wholeness, in- in our daily life. Caring is the most natural and the
volvement, engagement, the body, and the lived life. most fundamental aspect of human existence.
We live in contexts, in time and space, and we live As mentioned earlier, Martinsen revised her per-
historically. The body cannot be divided into body and spective on Heidegger (Martinsen, 1993b). At the same
soul; it is a wholeness that relates to other bodies, to time, she did not reject “Heidegger’s original and acute
things in the world, and to nature. thought” (Martinsen, 1993b, p. 17). She turns back to
Heidegger when she explains what it means to dwell.
Merleau-Ponty: The Body as the Natural Heidegger had examined precisely the concept that to
Attitude dwell is always to live among things (Martinsen, 2001).
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908 to 1961) builds upon Here we may note that Heidegger reinforces an idea
Husserl’s thought, but focuses more than any other also maintained by Merleau-Ponty: that the things we
thinker on the human body in the world. Both Husserl surround ourselves with are not merely things for us,
and Merleau-Ponty criticized Descartes (1596 to 1650), objectively speaking, but they actually participate in
who separates the person from the world in which one shaping our lives. We leave something of ourselves
lives with other persons. The body is representing the within these things when we dwell amidst them. It is
natural attitude in the world. The nursing profession the body that dwells, surrounded by an environment.
relates to the body in all of its aspects. We use our own
bodies in the performance of caring, and we relate to Knud Eiler Løgstrup: Ethics as a Primary
other bodies who are in need of nursing, treatment, Condition of Human Existence
and care. Our bodies and those of our patients express Knud Eiler Løgstrup (1905 to 1981), the Danish
themselves through actions, attitudes, words, tone of philosopher and theologian, became important for
voice, and gestures. Phenomenology involves acts of Martinsen in the “void” left by Heidegger. Løgstrup
interpretation, description, and recognition of lived can be summarized through two intellectual strands:
life, the everyday life that people live together with oth- phenomenology and creation theology, the latter
ers in a mutual natural world, including the profes- containing his philosophy of religion (creation the-
sional contexts in which caring is performed. ology should not be confused with the more recent
“creationism” in the United States). As a phenome-
Martin Heidegger: Existential Being as nologist, he sought to reveal and analyze the essen-
Caring tial phenomena of human existence. Through his
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) was a German phe- phenomenological investigations, Løgstrup arrived
nomenologist and a student of Husserl, among others. at what he termed sovereign or spontaneous life
He investigated existential being, that is to say, that utterances: trust, hope, compassion, and the open-
which is and how it is. Martinsen connects the concept ness of speech. That these are essential is to say that
of caring to Heidegger because he “has caring as a they are precultural characteristics of our existence.
central concept in his thought. . . . The point is to try As characteristics, they provide conditions for our
to elicit the fundamental qualities of caring, or what culture, conditions for our existence; they make
caring is and encompasses” (Martinsen, 1989c, p. 68). human community possible (Lubcke, 1983). Accord-
She continues: “An analysis of our practical life and an ing to Heidegger, caring is such a characteristic. In
analysis of what caring is, are inseparable. To investi- Løgstrup’s opinion, the sovereign life utterances were
gate the one is at the same time to investigate the other. the necessary characteristics for human coexistence.
Together, they form an inseparable unit. Caring is a Martinsen maintains that for Løgstrup, metaphysics
fundamental concept in understanding the person” and ethics are interwoven in the concept of creation:
(Martinsen, 1989c, p. 69). With phenomenology and
Heidegger as a backdrop, Martinsen gives content and They are characteristic phenomena which sustain
substance to caring: caring will always have at least us in such a way that caring for the other arises