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158 UNIT II Nursing Philosophies

material and constructed place, but it is also a place we Metaphysics is not speculation about that of which
share with other people. . . . The room with its interior we cannot know anything. It is an interpretation of
and objects makes visible the patient’s and the nurse’s phenomena we all recognize through our senses and
interpretation of it” (Martinsen, 2001, pp. 175-176). can experience. These phenomena are prescientific
Our challenge is to give patients and each other dig- and foundational.
nity in these spaces. What is needed then is deliberate
knowledge gathered in slowed down, deliberate spaces,
“space in which to perceive—smell, listen, see and Logical Form
care” (Martinsen, 2001, p. 176). Martinsen’s logical form can be described as inductive
and analogous. The inductive aspect of her thought has
its source in that experiences in life and in health ser-
Theoretical Assertions vice are the starting point for her theoretical works. She
People are created dependent and relational. Care is turns toward philosophy and history in the hope of
fundamental to human life. As humans, we live not gaining greater insight and understanding of the con-
merely in fellowship with one another, but we also crete work of nursing and the lived life. In her meeting
enter into relationships with animals and with nature, with the philosophy of life and the phenomenology of
and we relate to a creative force that sustains the creation, she encounters the ontological and meta-
whole. The person is fundamentally dependent upon physical in a different way than that of traditional phi-
community and the creation. To the created belong losophy. Life utterances, the creation, time, and space
the sovereign life utterances, “These are firstly given to are ontological and metaphysical facts. Analogy would
us, and secondly they are sovereign. That is to say it is say that we think these facts and recognize them in our
impossible for the person to avoid their power. . . . concrete experiences in our practical life. They come to
These are phenomena which are present in the ser- expression in meetings between persons, in narratives,
vice of life. They create life, they release life’s possi- and in the exercise of discernment. “In this way, meta-
bilities” (Martinsen, 1996, p. 80). physics pries at the empirical,” writes Martinsen with
The body is created as a whole, that is to say that need reference to Løgstrup (Martinsen, 1996). Further, she
and spirit, or body and spirit, enter into a benevolent states, “The narrative takes time, it is slow. It provides
interaction, in which sensing cannot be avoided. context through analogous forms of recognition, that is
Martinsen (1996) writes the following: to say, it is relevant to us when we can recognize our-
selves in the life phenomena it relates” (Martinsen,
Sensing initiates interaction and maintains it. 2002b, p. 267).
Care of the body becomes central. In this respect, Kirkevold (1998) writes the following:
nursing is secular vocational work which through
professional care of the body protects and pro- Martinsen does not mean to present a logically
vides space for the life possibilities of the patient. constructed theory. On the contrary, she distances
The vocation is seen as a demand life makes on herself from that view of knowledge that insists
us to care for our neighbour, in this case the theory have a logical structure of terms, principles
patient, through our work. It is work in the and rules. Martinsen’s theory is an interpretive
service of life processes. Vocation, the body and analysis of caring, upon which the author tries to
work are seen as a counterweight to the new shed light from several perspectives. Her treat-
(bodiless) spirituality in nursing (p. 72). ment of this phenomenon must be said to be both
extensive and thorough (p. 180).
Love of one’s neighbor is coupled with a concrete,
practical, professional, and moral discernment. Sen-
suous and experience-based knowledge is the most Acceptance by the Nursing Community
fundamental and essential for the practice of nursing. Practice
Caring is learned through practical experience in
concrete situations under the supervision of expert Martinsen herself is reluctant to provide concrete direc-
and experienced nurses (Martinsen, 1993b, 2003b). tions for practical nursing. However, she recommends