Authors
Danielle Granderson
Published in
Nursing philosophy : an international journal for healthcare professionals. Volume 27. Issue 3. Pages e70103.
Abstract
This paper examines the relevance of Gadamerian hermeneutic philosophy for caring science by clarifying how understanding, interpretation, and ethical responsiveness are implicated in nursing practice. Drawing on key Gadamerian concepts, including prejudice, language, dialog, and the fusion of horizons, the paper explores the ontological and epistemological foundations of caring as a relational process of coming to understanding within historically and culturally situated nurse-patient encounters. Caring is articulated not as a discrete action or technical competence, but as a mode of being that unfolds through dialogical engagement and openness to the other. While Gadamerian hermeneutics has been widely employed within qualitative nursing research, this paper argues that its significance for caring science lies less in methodological prescription than in its philosophical orientation to understanding and application as inseparable. By examining interpretive approaches to studying caring and critically reflecting on the tendency to treat the fusion of horizons as an endpoint, the paper highlights how Gadamerian hermeneutics sustains caring as an ongoing, ethically consequential practice rather than a finalized interpretive outcome. Clinical Trial Registration: N/A.
PMID:
42472430
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 19 Jul 2026.
Read full publication at:
Please sign in
to see all details.
Advertisement
Stats
- Recommendations n/a n/a positive of 0 vote(s)
- Views 7
- Comments 0