Liquid Perception and Event and Nursing | JoVE Visualize

Area of Science:

Philosophy of Science
Nursing Theory
Post-structuralism

Background:

The mid-1900s marked the era of grand nursing theory in the United States, characterized by attempts to articulate nursing's conceptual underpinnings.
Grand nursing theories, while still prevalent in education, practice, and research, have historically faced challenges in distinguishing philosophy from theory.
There is an ongoing resonance with grand nursing theories, suggesting a need for refined conceptual frameworks.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore the connection between grand nursing theory and the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze.
To develop a new conceptualization, termed 'liquid perception,' to better articulate the essence of nursing.
To re-examine nursing's creative gestures through a Deleuzian lens, moving beyond outdated theoretical structures.

Main Methods:

Analysis of grand nursing theory through the lens of Gilles Deleuze's philosophy, focusing on concepts of event and conceptuality.
Critical examination of a 2008 paper by Margaret Newman and colleagues to identify attempts at expressing nursing's 'event'.
Development of the concept of 'liquid perception' based on Deleuzian principles of movement and variation.

Main Results:

Grand nursing theorists like Newman et al. attempted to express nursing's 'event' using creative language but were constrained by traditional theory structures.
Deleuzian philosophy provides a framework for understanding the 'shadowy and secret part' of actualities, termed conceptuality or event.
The concept of 'liquid perception' emerges, characterized by bearing affects and expanding relationality within nursing practice.

Conclusions:

Liquid perception offers a dynamic conceptualization of nursing as bearing witness to events and actualizing emerging possibilities.
This concept emphasizes nursing's relationality and potentiality, moving beyond static theoretical prescriptions.
Liquid perception reframes nursing efficacy as a process of becoming, rather than adherence to established theoretical truths.