Premium
Through the lens of Merleau‐Ponty: advancing the phenomenological approach to nursing research
Author(s) -
Thomas Sandra P.
Publication year - 2005
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 - 10.1111/j.1466-769x.2004.00185.x
Subject(s) - phenomenology (philosophy) , intentionality , epistemology , relevance (law) , perception , nursing research , psychology , sociology , nursing , philosophy , medicine , political science , law
Phenomenology has proved to be a popular methodology for nursing research. I argue, however, that phenomenological nursing research could be strengthened by greater attention to its philosophical underpinnings. Many research reports devote more page space to procedure than to the philosophy that purportedly guided it. The philosophy of Maurice Merleau‐Ponty is an excellent fit for nursing, although his work has received less attention than that of Husserl and Heidegger. In this paper, I examine the life and thought of Merleau‐Ponty, with emphasis on concepts, such as perception, intentionality and embodiment, which have particular relevance to the discipline of nursing.