Donna Frost

Chapter 3 78 There is, however, by no means agreement in the literature as to the delineation of different types of knowledge or ways of knowing. Neither is their agreement about the ways in which different kinds of knowledge work together to enable us to ‘act’. Titchen and Ersser ( 2001 ) identify, for example, ten different terms used by healthcare researchers and theorists to describe the nature of knowledge related to professional action, including aesthetic knowing, ethical or moral knowing, embodied knowing and intuitive knowing. They point out that the various terms are neither well differentiated nor mutually exclusive. Some of the concepts, such as Carper’s ( 1978 ) aesthetic knowing, have been widely yet fairly uncritically accepted in the nursing literature (eg. Fawcett, Watson, Neuman, Walker & Fitzpatrick, 2013 ) despite a lack of information about the derivation of the concept or the empirical basis on which it rests (Titchen & Ersser, 2001 ). Other patterns of knowing identified as relevant for nursing are for example ‘unknowing’ (Munhall, 1993 ), socio-political knowing (White, 1995 ) and emancipatory knowing (Chinn & Kramer, 2008 ). In short, widespread acceptance, within the nursing and healthcare literature, of the existence of and importance for nursing of different types of knowledge and different ways of knowing, has yet to lead to consensus over a taxonomy of knowledge (eg. Chiavaroli, 2017 ; Ferguson, 2018 ; Haase, Thomas, Gifford&Holtslander, 2018 ). Higgs, Jones and Titchen ( 2008 ) do recommend, however, that evidence from all three paradigms (empirico-analytical, interpretive and critical) be used when considering evidence, and developing evidence, for practice. Within this research the relevant methodological principle is this: different kinds of knowledge and ways of knowing are valued and seen as legitimate contributors to understanding. Attention is paid to explicating and using those forms of knowledge that help to broaden and deepen understandings, and to exploration of congruence or dissonance among different ways of knowing. ‘Embodied knowing’ and ‘Openness to all ways of being’ (Titchen & McCormack, 2010 , pp. 540 - 541 ) are of particular relevance here. The first of these metaphorical principles for human flourishing has to dowith our being aware of our internalisation of principles and culture, learning to listen to and act upon the wisdom of our bodies and to blend this knowing with other types of knowing. The second speaks to the importance of uncovering, experiencing and appreciating the assumptions and tenets of our own worldviews, learning to deconstruct these and understand them and in doing so being and becoming more open to the world views of others. The practice of nursing is very much an embodied practice (Lawler, 1991 ; Benner, 2000 a; Thomas, 2005 ). Researching it and ourselves as practitioners required us to work consciously with our bodies, for example, to notice and value our own bodily