EXPANDING THE PRAXIS DEBATE - CONTRIBUTIONS TO CLINICAL INQUIRY

Nursing science continues to debate the adequacy of various philosophi c paradigms for their ability to forward the discipline. Nursing must embrace multiple paradigms, methodologies, and their philosophic assum ptions to adequately address the complex and multifaceted human phenom ena that is the focus of clinical inquiry in nursing. This article exa mines the differences in interpretive and critical approaches to clini cal inquiry relative to praxis, expanding how praxis can be used to in form nursing practice. Differences in the nature of knowledge, goals o f inquiry, and claims to praxis between the interpretive and critical traditions are discussed. Praxis, realized through clinical inquiry in both the interpretive and the critical paradigms, may contribute impo rtant pieces of the puzzle to improve the human condition. Expanding t he praxis debate challenges nurses to consider the emancipatory possib ilities of clinical inquiry within both interpretive and critical para digms.