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Spiritual care as a response to an exaptation: how evolutionary psychology informs the debate
Author(s) -
Kevern Peter
Publication year - 2017
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/nup.12139
Subject(s) - situated , epistemology , dialectic , argument (complex analysis) , spiritual care , conviction , psychology , sociology , field (mathematics) , social psychology , spirituality , philosophy , law , political science , medicine , computer science , alternative medicine , mathematics , pathology , artificial intelligence , pure mathematics
This article has its origins in a 2013 proposal by the author that the concept of ‘spiritual care’ in clinical settings might fruitfully be grounded in the findings of the Cognitive Science of Religion ( CSR ). In a recent paper, John Paley rejects the central arguments and asserts his conviction that a model for ‘spiritual care’ cannot be derived from the insights of evolutionary psychology. In this article, the author employs a modified form of Fichtean dialectic to examine the contrasting positions and, via a process of analysis and synthesis, identify the key areas for further exploration and research. He concludes, first, that CSR in itself does not provide a sufficient theoretical justification for the notion and practice of ‘spiritual care’; secondly, that any attempt to develop a general theory of spiritual care would need to pay closer attention to the role of historically situated religious communities; and finally, that these objections nevertheless do not amount to an argument against the attempt to provide spiritual care as part of person‐centred care. Instead, a revised model is proposed which has the potential to provide testable predictions in this field.