Nursing knowledge and human science revisited: practical and political considerations

Abstract

The human science tradition is rooted in human freedom and meaning and oriented toward narrative and dialogical methods. In the past 10 years, human science nursing has grown but the opposition has also increased. Whereas other health disciplines are turning to the study of lived experience, nursing on the whole may be turning away. This article updates progress in human science, including works related to major nursing theories. The authors address practical and political considerations related to language, community, theory-laden knowledge, and tolerance for diversity. The authors conclude that the suppression of human science imperils nursing as a practice of being-with, witnessing, and cocreating quality of life, lived by nurses. But theories live in the actions of those who support them; thus, any place where people seek human care has the potential to support a human science-based nursing practice.