Reading 3 Flashcards
(28 cards)
Ontology, Epistemology, and Methodology: A Clarification
Rawnsley
*What are the 3 kinds of claims or statements that constitute a philosophy?
ontological claims epistemic claims ethical claims
*A philosophy must contain?
an ontology an epistemology an ethic
*Ontology
Claims regarding the nature and structure of being; theories of what exists – What is?
Ontology in relation to science?
Science is aimed at getting at ontology
Ontology is the same as?
metaphysics
Metaphysics
concerned with describing the ultimate nature of things as they are (nature of the universe)
Two philosphical theories within ontology?
realism versus idealism
Realism
the existence of objects/entities with properties/relations that are independent of our understanding or experiences of them
Idealism
reality is mind-correlative, the nature of things cannot be known without reference to the mental operations that conceptualize them
*In nursing, questions of ontology…
What is nursing? What is the nature of nursing practice? Of human beings? Other concepts? What can be known about these concepts?
Ontological claims inform us as to…?
what the fundamental entities are that exist within the domain of nursing
*Epistemology
theory of knowledge – philosophical problems concerned with the origin and structure of knowledge – How do we know what is? How do we figure it out?
*In nursing, questions of epistemology…
What is nursing knowledge? How do nurses know? What is the nature of the relationship between the knower or would-be knower and what can be known?
*What are the primary divisions in ways of knowing in classical epistemology?
a priori a posteriori
*a priori
“from the earlier” deductive reasoning something known a priori is known purely through reason inherent or intuitive knowledge independent of sensory perception or other experience
*a posteriori
“from the later” inductive reasoning something known a posteriori is determined through empirical evidence acquired knowledge, which is abstraction and derived from sense experience
Consider the proposition, “If George V reigned for at least four days, then he reigned for more than three days.” This is something that one knows a priori, because it expresses a statement that one can derive by reason alone. One doesn’t actually “know” what is derived by reason alone. “A priori” knowledge is a tautology waiting to be confirmed.
Compare this with the proposition expressed by the sentence, “George V reigned from 1910 to 1936.” This is something that (if true) one must come to know a posteriori, because it expresses an empirical fact unknowable by reason alone.
Tautology
a statement that is true by necessity or by virtue of its logical form
*Ethic
statements about what one values
*In nursing, questions of ethic claims…
What do nurses value? What are the virtues of a nurse? What are the characteristics of an ethical nurse, of ethical practice?
Methodology
the practice of science – concerned with procedures for yielding information that is believable
*In nursing, questions of methodology…
How is nursing knowledge generated? How can the inquirer go about finding out what ze believes can be known?
Empiricism
the theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience
