Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prehistory of the problem --
Opening the relevance gap --
Toward a philosophy of nursing science --
Practice values and the disciplinary knowledge base --
Models of value-laden science --
Standpoint epistemology and nursing knowledge --
The nursing standpoint --
Logical positivism and mid-century philosophy of science --
Echoes in nursing --
Rejecting the received view. Postnursing theory inquiry --
The structure of theory --
Models, mechanisms, and middle-range theory --
Consequences of contextualism --
Conceptual models and the fate of grand theory --
The rise of qualitative research --
What is a paradigm? --
Methodological separatism and reconciliation --
Redrawing the map.

Nurses who conduct research have a longstanding interest in questions of nursing knowledge. Nursing Knowledge is a clear and well-informed exposition of the philosophical background to nursing theory and research.