Phronesis: Recognising a neglected dimension of knowledge within occupational therapy research.

BACKGROUND: Phronesis is a way of knowing, implying wisdom, experiences, and reflections that guide our judgements. Phronesis, important for learning, is a neglected form of knowledge when applied to research. AIM: To examine how phronesis is conceptualised and practiced in three research projects. METHOD: Data from eight interviews with researchers involved in three research projects was generated. The interview material was analysed. A theoretical matrix of contemporary understanding of phronesis was applied to the material. RESULT: Examples of phronesis from three research projects in occupational therapy are presented according to categories of contemporary phronesis; acknowledging embodiment, embracing humility, using perceptiveness, and practicing reflexivity. SIGNIFICANCE: This unique approach of analysing research projects contributes to the understanding of phronesis and its implications for research, providing valuable insights into the researchers' praxis in their respective projects. CONCLUSION: There is a need for a greater recognition of phronesis as a dimension of knowledge within all types of research, and within the discipline. By not recognising phronesis as a legitimate form of knowledge, the discipline perpetuates a superiority of knowledge from episteme that dominates our ways of learning about the world around us and where the type of knowledge gleaned from phronesis is consequently marginalised.

Psychotherapy as a skilled practice.

While psychotherapy is related to both science and art, it is primarily a craft activity requiring the development of skilful practice, epitomized by the discipline of the analytic attitude. In terms of the forms of knowledge outlined by Aristotle, this places psychotherapy in the realm of 'technê' (arts and craft) rather than epistêmê (science). In particular, the technê of psychotherapy is concerned with the development of phronesis (practical wisdom) in both patient and analyst and its ultimate aim is concerned with the promotion of eudaimonia, a state of well-being considered by Aristotle to be definitive of 'the good life'. It is therefore fundamentally an ethical endeavour. The nature of psychotherapeutic skill is illustrated by analogy with three other forms of technê - music, meditation and pottery. Clinical examples illustrate the crafting of interpretations and the art of patient holding.

Alors que la psychothérapie est rattachée à la fois à la science et à l'art, il s'agit en premier lieu d'une activité artisanale qui requiert l'acquisition d'une aptitude pointue, incarnée par la discipline de l'attitude analytique. Se référant aux formes de savoir énoncées par Aristote, la psychothérapie se situe dans le domaine de « technê ¼ (les arts et l'artisanat) plutôt que celui d' « epistêmê ¼ (la science). Notamment, le technê de la psychothérapie concerne le développement de phronesis (la sagesse pratique) à la fois chez le patient et l'analyste. Son but ultime est de promouvoir l'eudaimonia, un état de bienêtre qu'Aristote considère comme le signe de «la vie bonne¼. De ce fait il s'agit d'une œuvre fondamentalement éthique. La nature du savoir-faire de la psychothérapie est illustrée par une analogie avec trois autres formes de technê - la musique, la méditation, et la poterie. Des exemples cliniques illustrent le façonnement des interprétations et l'art de « bien tenir ¼ le patient.

Si bien la psicoterapia se relaciona tanto a la ciencia como al arte, se trata principalmente de una actividad artesanal que requiere el desarrollo de una práctica calificada, encarnada en la disciplina de la actitud analítica. En los términos de las formas de conocimiento descriptas por Aristóteles, esto ubica a la psicoterapia en la dimensión de la 'technê' (artes y oficios) en lugar de la 'epistêmê' (ciencia). En particular, la technê de la psicoterapia concierne al desarrollo de la phronesis (sabiduría práctica) en ambos paciente y analista, y su meta principal atañe a la promoción de la eudaimonia, estado de bienestar considerado por Aristóteles como característico de 'la buena vida'. Es por lo tanto, fundamentalmente, una labor ética. La naturaleza de la habilidad psicoterapéutica es ilustrada en analogía con otras tres formas de technê - música, meditación y cerámica. Ejemplos clínicos ilustran el oficio artesanal de la interpretación y el arte de contener al paciente.

Scientific Representations at the UPR School of Tropical Medicine. IV: Special Technical Studies.

The essay examines the scientific representations that unfolded and evolved at the University of Puerto Rico School of Tropical Medicine (STM) under the auspices of Columbia University (1926-1949). This article on the STM's scientific endeavors is the fourth in a historical serial collection about the images and evolution of sciences at the institution and it portrays the diagrammatic representations of special technical research aspects and studies (i.e., personnel, epidemiology, methodology, animal studies, biology, field studies, treatment and immunology, and chemotherapy agents). The essay focuses on the emerged scientific representations and on the nature and evolution of sciences at the School, and has been divided into four sections: a) images of science, b) evolution during the first two eras, c) the third and last era unfolding, and d) special technical studies. In this paper the scientific representations have been brought about mainly through the analyses of research publications in external and local venues. The analysis of the STM's scientific evolution has been organized in three distinct historical stages: 1926-31, 1932-40, and 1941-49. These representations open an exploration pathway for a better understanding of the intricate interrelationships between the techné and the episteme horizons of tropical medical science in Puerto Rico.

Child health care nurses' use of teaching practices and forms of knowledge episteme, techne and phronesis when leading parent education groups.

This study explores child health care nurses' pedagogical knowledge when supporting parents in their parenthood using various teaching practices, that is how to organise and process the content during parent education groups in primary health care. The aim is to identify teaching practices used by child health care nurses and to analyse such practices with regard to Aristotle's three forms of knowledge to comprehensively examine child health care nurses' use of knowledge in practice. A qualitative methodological design alongside the analysis of video-recordings was used. The results showed that child health care nurses used four teaching practices: lecturing, demonstration, conversation and supervision. Their use of episteme was prominent, but they also seemed to master techne in combination with episteme during the first three teaching practices. During the conversation teaching practice, the child health nurses rarely succeeded. Consequently, they missed opportunities to identify mothers' expressed concerns and to act in the best interests of both the mothers and their infants by the use of phronesis. In health care, however, theoretical episteme is superordinate to productive knowledge or phronesis, which also became evident in this study. Nevertheless, more interactive pedagogical practices are needed if more use of phronesis is to become a reality in parent education groups.

Le corps d'adolescent au Rorschach / The body of the adolescent at the Rorschach / O corpo do adolescente no Rorschach / El cuerpo del adolescente en el Rorschach

Sur la base d'un cadre théorique qui est inscrit dans les théories de la relation d'objet, dans les processus de transformation et de co-construction, l'autour a l'intention d'observer et de décrire les processus de transformation. Les nouveaux organisateurs psychiques «techne¼ et «champ¼ compris comme une relation contenant-contenu permettent la compréhension des transformations psychiques de l'adolescence. Le Rorschach permet l'accès à la vie mentale et relationnelle du sujet, compris comme une relation de communication, de liaison et de transformation entre le sujet et l'objet. L'analyse du protocole du Rorschach, sera réalisée avec les deux organisateurs, par lesquelles nous cherchons à clarifier les relations établies entre le corps et le psychisme. L'extension à d'autres modèles théoriques de la psychanalyse et l'augmentation des possibilités de la méthodologie Rorschach nous permettent une meilleure compréhension des transformations du corps, dotant la pratique clinique de plus de possibilités pour l'intervention psychothérapeutique moins inscrite dans la logique classique de la psychopathologie.

Com base em quadro teórico inscrito nas teorias da relação de objeto, nos processos de transformação e de coconstrução, a autora tem por intenção observar e descrever os processos de transformação. Os novos organizadores psíquicos "techne" e "campo" inscritos em uma relação do tipo continente-conteúdo permitem a compreensão das transformações psíquicas dos adolescentes. O Rorschach permite o acesso à via mental e relacional do sujeito, compreendida como uma relação de comunicação, de ligação e de transformação entre o sujeito e o objeto. A análise do protocolo de Rorschach será realizada com base nos dois organizadores, através dos quais será possível esclarecer as relações que se estabelecem entre o corpo e o psiquismo. A extensão a outros modelos teóricos da psicanálise e o aumento das possibilidades da metodologia Rorschach permitem uma melhor compreensão das transformações do corpo, dotando a prática clínica de mais possibilidade ao nível da intervenção psicoterapêutica, a qual será menos inscrita na lógica clássica da psicopatologia.

Using a theoretical framework based on the theories of object relation, on the processes of transformation and co-construction, the author aims at observing and describing transformation processes. The new psychic organizers "techne" and "field", which form a container-contained relationship, help understand the psychic transformations of adolescents. The Rorschach test allows to access the mental and relational life of the subject, understood as a relationship of communication, connection and transformation between the subject and the object. The Rorschach protocol will be analyzed based on the two organizers, which helped clarify the relations between the body and the psyche. The extension to other theoretical psychoanalytical models and the increase in possibilities of the Rorschach methodology allow a better understanding of body transformations, providing clinical practice with increased possibilities for psychotherapeutic interventions that are less situated in the classical logic of psychopathology.

Teniendo como base un cuadro teórico con mención en las teorías de la relación de objeto, en los procesos de transformación y de coconstrucción, la autora tiene la intención de observar y describir los procesos de transformación. Los nuevos organizadores psíquicos "téchne" y "campo" mencionados en una relación tipo continente-contenido permiten la comprensión de las transformaciones psíquicas de los adolescentes. El Rorschach permite el acceso a la vía mental y relacional del sujeto, comprendida como una relación de comunicación, conexión y transformación entre el sujeto y el objeto. El análisis del protocolo de Rorschach se hace con base en los dos organizadores, a través de los cuales será posible aclarar las relaciones que se establecen entre el cuerpo y el psiquismo. La ampliación a otros modelos teóricos del psicoanálisis aumenta las posibilidades de la metodología Rorschach, facilitando una mejor comprensión de las transformaciones del cuerpo, dotando a la práctica clínica de más posibilidades a nivel de intervención psicoterapéutica, menos limitada a la lógica clásica de la psicopatología.

Auf der Grundlage eines theoretischen Rahmens, in Bezug auf die Theorien der Objektbeziehung und auf den Veränderungs- und Co-Konstruktionsprozessen, beabsichtigt die Verfasserin, die Veränderungsprozesse zu beobachten und zu beschreiben. Die neuen psychischen Konzepte „Techne" und „Feld", die auf einer Container-Contained (Behälter-Inhalt) Beziehung basieren, ermöglichen das Verständnis der psychischen Veränderung von Heranwachsenden. Der Rorschach Test ermöglicht den Zugang zu einer Person über einen geistigen und beziehungsmäßigen Weg, welcher als eine Beziehung von Kommunikation, Verbindung und Veränderung zwischen der Person und dem Objekt verstanden wird. Die Analyse eines Rorschachprotokolls wird auf der Grundlage beider Konzepte durchgeführt, über die es möglich sein wird, die Beziehungen zu verdeutlichen, die zwischen Körper und Psyche entstehen. Die Erweiterung auf andere theoretische Modelle der Psychoanalyse und die Erhöhung der Möglichkeiten der Rorschach-Methode verbessert das Verständnis der Veränderungen des Körpers und verleiht der klinischen Praxis mehr Möglichkeiten auf Ebene der psychotherapeutischen Intervention, welche dann weniger auf die klassische Logik der Psychopathologie basiert.

Entre a técnica e a téchne: possibilidades de atuação do psicólogo nas organizações / Between the technique and the téchne: working possibilities of the psychologist in organizations / Entre la técnica y la téchne: posibilidades de actuación del psicólogo en las organizaciones

O objetivo desse artigo é instigar a reflexão, com base no pensamento de Martin Heidegger sobre a questão da técnica, mais especificamente, acerca do espaço que comumente psicólogos têm ocupado nas organizações de trabalho, estas por sua vez inseridas em um mundo técnico pós-moderno. Psicólogos, entre outros profissionais, têm buscado conhecimento e preparo técnico específico, principalmente após a graduação, para assumirem cargos em áreas de gestão de pessoas nas organizações. Contudo, não tem sido raro ouvir profissionais de psicologia atuantes em contextos organizacionais relatarem que não se sentem mais psicólogos, que sequer recordam que o são, visto que as atividades cotidianas lhes requerem conhecimentos e habilidades que muito pouco estão associadas com a formação que escolheram. A partir da reflexão ora proposta, busca-se percorrer um caminho no qual se vislumbre possibilidades do psicólogo repensar sua prática profissional de modo a privilegiar a téchne sem precisar abrir mão da técnica e, assim, criar com esta última uma relação serenamente livre.

The aim of this article is to instigate reflection, based on the thought of Martin Heidegger concerning the issue of technique, more specifically about the space that psychologists have commonly occupied in the work organizations, which, in turn, are inserted in a postmodern world. Psychologists, among other professionals, have sought knowledge and specific technical preparation, especially after graduation, to take up positions in areas of personnel management in organizations. However, it has not been uncommon to hear psychologists working in organizational contexts reporting that they do not longer feel themselves like psychologists, who do not even remember that they exercise their profession, because the daily activities require knowledge and skills that are very little associated with the training area they have chosen. From the reflection proposed here, we seek to follow a path in which we can glimpse the possibilities of psychologists to rethink their professional practice in such a way as to privilege the téchne without giving up the technique, and thus establish a serenely free relationship with the latter.

El objetivo de este artículo es instigar la reflexión, basándose en el pensamiento de Martin Heidegger sobre la cuestión de la técnica, más específicamente sobre el espacio que, comúnmente, psicólogos han ocupado en las organizaciones de trabajo, que a su vez forman parte del mundo técnico posmoderno. Psicólogos, entre otros profesionales, han buscado el conocimiento y la preparación técnica específica, sobre todo después de la graduación, para asumir posiciones en las áreas de gestión de personas en las organizaciones. Sin embargo, no ha sido raro escuchar a profesionales de la psicología que trabajan en contextos organizacionales reportar que no más se sienten como psicólogos, que ni siquiera recuerdan que ejercen su profesión, puesto que las actividades diarias requieren conocimientos y habilidades que muy poco se asocian con la formación que han elegido. A partir de esta reflexión, se busca seguir un camino en el que el psicólogo pueda vislumbrar posibilidades para repensar su práctica profesional de manera que se prime la téchne sin tener que renunciar a la técnica, y así crear con esta última una relación tranquilamente libre.

An engineering paradigm in the biomedical sciences: Knowledge as epistemic tool.

In order to deal with the complexity of biological systems and attempts to generate applicable results, current biomedical sciences are adopting concepts and methods from the engineering sciences. Philosophers of science have interpreted this as the emergence of an engineering paradigm, in particular in systems biology and synthetic biology. This article aims at the articulation of the supposed engineering paradigm by contrast with the physics paradigm that supported the rise of biochemistry and molecular biology. This articulation starts from Kuhn's notion of a disciplinary matrix, which indicates what constitutes a paradigm. It is argued that the core of the physics paradigm is its metaphysical and ontological presuppositions, whereas the core of the engineering paradigm is the epistemic aim of producing useful knowledge for solving problems external to the scientific practice. Therefore, the two paradigms involve distinct notions of knowledge. Whereas the physics paradigm entails a representational notion of knowledge, the engineering paradigm involves the notion of 'knowledge as epistemic tool'.

Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis: the 'possibility' beyond 'actuality' in thematic analysis.

AIMS: This article discusses the ways researchers may become open to manifold interpretations of lived experience through thematic analysis that follows the tradition of hermeneutic phenomenology. BACKGROUND: Martin Heidegger's thinking about historical contexts of understandings and the notions of 'aletheia' and 'techne' disclose what he called meaning of lived experience, as the 'unchanging Being of changing beings'. While these notions remain central to hermeneutic phenomenological research, novice phenomenologists usually face the problem of how to incorporate these philosophical tenets into thematic analysis. DESIGN: Discussion paper. DATA SOURCES: This discussion paper is based on our experiences of hermeneutic analysis supported by the writings of Heidegger. Literature reviewed for this paper ranges from 1927 - 2014. We draw on data from a study of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong to demonstrate how 'dwelling' in the language of participants' 'ek-sistence' supported us in a process of thematic analysis. Data were collected from December 2013 - February 2016. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Nurses doing hermeneutic phenomenology have to develop self-awareness of one's own 'taken-for-granted' thinking to disclose the unspoken meanings hidden in the language of participants. Understanding the philosophical tenets of hermeneutic phenomenology allows nurses to preserve possibilities of interpretations in thinking. In so doing, methods of thematic analysis can uncover and present the structure of the meaning of lived experience. CONCLUSION: We provide our readers with vicarious experience of how to begin cultivating thinking that is aligned with hermeneutic phenomenological philosophical tenets to conduct thematic analysis.

Examining how and why to Engage Practitioners from across the Learning Landscape in the Research Enterprise: Proposal for Phronêtic Research on Education.

Educational practitioners are often reluctant, if not actively resistant, to their participation in production and consumption of educational research. Based on my research experience with educational practitioners, I try to deconstruct this phenomenon using dialogic Bakhtinian and Aristotelian sociocultural frameworks. I consider two major related breakdowns in the educational practice: 1) a lack of self-correcting process in the educational practice, while reliance on accountability policy to achieve the practice quality, and 2) a breakdown between educational research and educational practice. I argue that the first breakdown is caused by viewing teaching as poiesis, aiming at preset curricular endpoints, and not as praxis, critically defining its own values, goals, and virtues. As to the second breakdown, I argue that current mainstream and even innovative research is defined through the technê and epistêmê ways of knowing, which correspond to a poiesic vision of educational practice. I suggest that educational practice primarily involves the phronêtic and sophic ways of knowing, which correspond to a praxis vision of educational practice. I describe phronêtic research of teaching through a case of my students, preservice teachers, working on revisions of their lessons that they conducted at an urban afterschool program. Finally, I consider recommendations for institutional support for phronêtic research on teaching.

[A reconsideration of nursing ethics from the perspective of téchne].

Our current age of technology sets high expectations for clarity and exactness in all professions, including nursing. This article introduces nursing ethics as a nebulous form of art (téchne) and then considers the new aspects that may be developed from nursing ethics. We first introduce the Aristotelian concept of téchne and then explain how téchne addresses experiential knowledge without claims to exactness. A discussion then follows about the relationship of téchne to rigorous and serious philosophy. While téchne is not an exact science, this concept addresses the difference between the exactness claimed by ancient Greek physical science (phúsis) and wisdom and the exactness claimed by Westerners today due to the changes in modern Western attitudes toward beings. In discussing nursing ethics as téchne, this article shows that the discussions of ethics within the medical and nursing professions nowadays are still influenced by age-of-technology claims to exactness. Finally, we propose the following: 1) nursing ethics should develop standards for ethics of care (or care ethics) wherein action is more important than theoretical argument and 2) some ideas and methods of rhetoric and narration should be integrated into the process of communication between nurses and patients.

Health Technology Assessment - science or art?

The founding disciplines of HTA are clearly scientific, and have been firmly based among the natural sciences. However, common definitions of HTA indicate that HTA is something more than the "pure application of science". This article investigates whether this "something" also makes HTA an art. The question of whether HTA is a science or an art is pursued in two specific and historically rich directions. The first is whether HTA is an art in the same way that medicine is described as an art. It has been argued extensively that medicine is based on two different and partly incompatible cultures, i.e., the natural sciences and humanities. Medicine is based on disciplines within the natural sciences, while its value judgments have been placed in the humanities camp. This dichotomy is present in HTA as well, and the first part of the investigation illustrates how HTA is an art in terms of its inherent and constitutive value-judgments. The second part of the science/art-scrutiny leads us to the ancient (Hippocratic) concept of art, téchne, where we find an etymological and a conceptual link between HTA and art. It demonstrates HTA is not an arbitrary process, even though it involves value judgments and relates complex decision making processes. As an art (téchne) HTA has a specific subject matter, requires inquiry and mastery of general rational principles, and is oriented to a specific end. In conclusion, the science-or-art-question makes sense in two specific perspectives, illustrating that HTA is a science based art. This has implications for the practice of HTA, for its education, and for the status of its results.