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156 UNIT II Nursing Philosophies

MAJOR CONCEPTS & DEFINITIONS—cont’d
caring cannot be realized. At the same time, caring human” (Martinsen, 2000b, p. 87). It is an ethical
actions clear the way for the realization of sovereign demand to take care of one’s neighbor. For this
life utterances in our personal and our professional reason, nursing requires a personal refinement,
lives. Caring can bring the patient to experience the in addition to professional knowledge (Malchau,
meaning of love and mercy; caring can light hope or 2000).
give it sustenance, and caring can be that which
makes trust and openness foremost in relations with The Eye of the Heart
the nurse. In the same way, lack of care can block the This concept stems from the parable of the Good
other’s experience of mercy; it can create mistrust Samaritan. The heart says something about the exis-
and an attitude of restraint in relation to the health tence of the whole person, about being touched or
service. moved by the suffering of the other and the situation
the other experiences. In sensuousness and percep-
The Untouchable Zone tion, we are moved before we understand, but we are
This term refers to a zone that we must not interfere also challenged by the afterthought of understand-
with in encounters with the other and encounters ing. To see and be seen with the eye of the heart is a
with nature. It refers to boundaries for which we form of participatory attention based on a recipro-
must have respect. The untouchable zone creates a cation that unifies perception and understanding, in
certain protective distance in the relation; it ensures which the eye’s understanding is led by the senses
impartiality and demands argumentation, theory, (Martinsen, 2000b, 2006).
and professionalism. In caring, the untouchable
zone is united with its opposite, which is openness, The Registering Eye
in which closeness, vulnerability, and motive have The registering eye is objectifying, and the per-
their correct place. Openness and the untouchable spective is that of the observer. It is concerned
zone constitute a unifying contradiction in caring with finding connections, systematizing, ranking,
(Martinsen, 1990, 2006). classifying, and placing in a system. The register-
ing eye represents an alliance between modern
Vocation natural science, technology, and industrialization.
Vocation “is a demand life makes to me in a com- If one as a patient is exposed to, or if one as a pro-
pletely human way to encounter and care for one’s fessional employs, this gaze in a one-sided man-
fellow person. Vocation is given as a law of life con- ner, compassion is lifted out of the situation, and
cerning neighborly love which is foundationally the will to life is reduced (Martinsen, 2000b).

manner (Martinsen 2003c, 2004b, 2005, 2009, Major Assumptions
2012). To exercise discretion is to interpret the
impressions we get of the patient. The professional Nursing
knowledge and experience one has built up give one Although care goes beyond nursing, caring is funda-
a horizon of understanding that is flexible in en- mental to nursing and to other work of a caring na-
counters with the patient’s situation (Martinsen, ture. Caring involves having consideration for, taking
1990, 2002c). The narrative can both describe and care of, and being concerned about the other. When
prescribe action (Kjær, 2000; Martinsen, 1997a, we speak about caring, three things must be simulta-
2012). “A good narrative tells existential morality neously present; we could call them the “trinity of
into being, and makes practical action unavoidable” caring”: caring must be relational, practical, and moral
(Martinsen, 1993b, p. 161). (Alvsvåg, 2011).