Answering philosophical questions facing contemporary nursing practice

The purpose of the article is to point out the relevance of asking and answ ering philosophical questions in nursing. The author characterizes philosop hical questions as higher order questions that cannot be answered by empiri cal observations alone. Questions about the nature of nursing reality, abou t the nature of nursing knowledge, and about the validity of ethical princi ples are mentioned as examples of such questions. The means for dealing wit h philosophical questions in nursing range from formal, logical analysis to philosophical poems.