THE NATURE OF PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, THEORY AND KNOWLEDGE RELATING TONURSING AND PROFESSIONALISM

It appears that nursing has devoted an extravagant amount of concentra tion to the subject of professionalism and professionalization. Conseq uently, it has created and persists to create some proportion of contr oversy amid nursing authors, particularly in the Western World at the present time. According to Silva, philosophy, knowledge and theory are intrinsically linked. These notions are important to consider indepen dently and to clarify their relationships, if nursing's knowledge base is to be built on a strong foundation. Perhaps then, if nursing wishe s to continue on the trail of professionalization, nurses need to retu rn to and reconsider its foundations and accomplishments. The aim of t his discussion paper is to explore the nature of the philosophy of sci ence, knowledge and theory and their interrelationships, with particul ar reference to professionalization by considering where nursing has c ome from and consequently the way forward to ascertaining professional status.