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History and Philosophy of Science

Sonya R. Hardin

“Why should nurses be interested in the history and philosophy of science? The history and philosophy
of science is important as a foundation for exploring whether scientific results are actually
truth. As nurses our practice should be based upon truth and we need the ability to interpret the
results of science. Nursing science provides us with knowledge to describe, explain and predict
outcomes. The legitimacy of any profession is built on its ability to generate and apply theory.”
(McCrae, 2011, p. 222)

odern science was established over 400 years adults. A recent study tested the theory that a certain
Mago as an intellectual activity to formalize given type of question would elicit the most response. The
phenomena of interest in an attempt to describe, theory was confirmed when findings supported that
explain, predict, or control states of affairs in nature. the open-ended questions prompted patients to provide
Scientific activity has persisted because it has improved a larger amount of diagnostically useful pain informa-
quality of life and has satisfied human needs for tion than did the closed-ended questions (McDonald,
creative work, a sense of order, and the desire to under- Shea, Rose, & Fedo, 2009). While this study is one
stand the unknown (Bronowski, 1979; Gale, 1979; example of nursing science, advance practice nurses
Piaget, 1970). The development of nursing science has should be familiar with the long history of the science
evolved since the 1960s as a pursuit to be understood of nursing.
as a scientific discipline. Being a scientific discipline
means identifying nursing’s unique contribution to the Historical Views of the Nature
care of patients, families, and communities. It means
that nurses can conduct clinical and basic nursing of Science
research to establish the scientific base for the care of To formalize the science of nursing, basic questions
individuals across the life span. For example, research must be considered, such as: What is science, knowl-
revealed gaps between the pain management needs edge, and truth? What methods produce scientific
of patients and the information communicated by knowledge? These are philosophical questions. The
patients and clinicians during office visits. Although term epistemology is concerned with the theory of
many older adults have painful but not readily visible knowledge in philosophical inquiry. The particular
conditions (e.g., symptomatic osteoarthritis), little re- philosophical perspective selected to answer these
search has examined how the style or format of a health questions will influence how scientists perform sci-
care practitioner’s questions influence the quality and entific activities, how they interpret outcomes, and
amount of diagnostic information obtained from older even what they regard as science and knowledge

Previous author: Sue Marquis Bishop.

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