Although their positions and arguments differ in several respects, feminists have asserted that science, knowledge, and rationality cannot be severed from their social, political, and cultural aspects.

Philosophical inquiry is a topic of increasing importance and concern in nursing research and theory. The contributors to this pathbreaking volume reflect a diversity of thought concerning the nature of philosophical questions in nursing and the uses of philosophy by nurses in their attempts to address epistemological, ethical and metaphysical questions about nursing issues. They clearly reflect the current state of philosophical inquiry in nursing and various viewpoints on important issues, and provide a foundation for future thought in this area.