Philosophy: a key to open the door to critical thinking

It has been suggested that philosophy is a bit like manure: pile it high an d it rots and stinks, but spread it around and it becomes surprisingly usef ul. Philosophical enquiry, used sparingly, can provide a means to develop c ritical and analytical ability in nurses. A key principle of philosophical enquiry is the development of skills to rigorously examine and debate ideas or explanations about, for example, the nature of being human. In recent y ears nurses have been exhorted to critically examine or critically analyse nursing knowledge and nursing theory. It is contended that nurses have rare ly been formally prepared during their education to develop the necessary c ritical thinking skills to examine some of the central questions about the nature of their role, and the knowledge needed to be effective in that role . This paper will discuss the development and experience of delivering a mo dule called 'Nursing: Art and Science' within a post-registration degree pr ogramme. It is argued that philosophical enquiry offers one means of equipp ing nurses with the critical capacity to examine the issues which may shape the future of nursing practice. (C) 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.