Thinking Care Through Intersectionality: Toward a Critical Epistemology of Care in Nursing Sciences

Despite their proclaimed universality, healthcare systems produce systematic inequities shaped by intersecting axes of power, a paradox that intersectionality is uniquely positioned to address. This philosophical‑reflexive inquiry proposes repositioning intersectionality within nursing sciences not merely as an analytical framework but as the foundation of a critical epistemology of care. Drawing on feminist standpoint theory (Hartsock, Harding, and Collins) and intersectional scholarship (Crenshaw, Bilge), we identify five interrelated pillars: (1) situated knowledge as epistemic foundation, (2) interlocking power relations as analytical core, (3) reflexive positionality for strong objectivity, (4) methodological pluralism responsive to complexity, and (5) care as political praxis oriented toward social justice. Through conceptual analysis and argumentative synthesis, we demonstrate how intersectionality challenges nursing's traditional reliance on biomedical neutrality, inviting reflexive inquiry into the production of knowledge about care. This epistemological reorientation equips nursing sciences to illuminate structural inequities beyond isolated social determinants, fostering research and practice attuned to relational dynamics of power and vulnerability. Applied to French nursing scholarship, where intersectionality remains under‑theorized, this framework offers pathways for educational reform, clinical reflexivity, and methodological innovation. Ultimately, it reaffirms nursing's commitment to generating transformative knowledge that not only explains but actively contests the structural production of health inequities.