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Paradigms lost, paradigms regained: defending nursing against a single reading of postmodernism
Author(s) -
Stevenson Chris,
Beech Ian
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
nursing philosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.367
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1466-769X
pISSN - 1466-7681
DOI - 10.1046/j.1466-769x.2001.00050.x
Subject(s) - postmodernism , relativism , reflexivity , reading (process) , epistemology , sociology , nursing theory , philosophy , psychology , medline , linguistics , social science , law , political science
Within nursing, postmodernism has been seen as both a freeing influence and a philosophy of rejection and relativism. Within this paper we consider readings of postmodernism that have been presented and offer a re‐reading that retains the idea of ‘the good’ and is neither relativist nor rejectionist. Local knowledge is to be judged by the relevant community and theoretical knowledge becomes nursing knowledge through reflexivity and improvization in practice. A story is good if it allows people to go on with their lives.