Nursing's syntax revisited: a critique of philosophies said to influence nursing theories

Abstract

Lodged within the syntax of a discipline are the value systems and research constraints that influence theory development and research strategies. Humanism and postmodern philosophy have challenged natural science philosophical influences on nursing's syntax. This paper examines the construction of nursing's syntax from empiricist, hermeneuticist, feminist, and critical social theory views. In this critique, two requirements are placed on the world views: (1) they must accommodate theoretical (realist) terms important to nursing; and (2) they should provide explanatory power for these terms within nursing's disciplinary substance. Arguments are continued for a "within-the discipline" structure, a substantive and syntactical structure for the discipline of nursing that recognizes the centrality of biobehavioral processes in the practice of nursing [Gortner, IMAGE: J. Nurs. Scholarship 22, 101-105 (1990)].