[Philosophy of care, care and nursing care: a literature review for a research at the intersection of philosophy and care]

Abstract

Very recently the concept of care has burst on the French philosophical scene. What are the contours of this developing "philosophy of care"? How does it place itself in relation to what are today called the ethics of care? And how does it take account of nursing care, as a discipline understood in its triple dimension: social, pedagogical and epistemological? The research presented in this paper examines some of the founding texts of this philosophy of care through the prism of these questions. It is the partial presentation of a reflection developed from a literature review that will include two other sections. The second section will focus on studying the way in which the ethics of care allow for nursing care and enter into dialogue with the nascent philosophy of care. The third will focus, conversely, on the way nurses integrate reflections derived from ethics of care and the philosophy of care into the evolution of their own discipline and contribute back to the development of a philosophy of care. These three questions are in turn part of more extensive research carried out in preparation for a philosophy thesis. They are meant as an invitation and a contribution towards what we hope will be a successful encounter between philosophy and nursing care.