The Rise of Science and the Aesthetic Reaction to It Essay

The Rise of Science and the Aesthetic Reaction to It - Essay Example The reaction to Darwin and Freud (whose psychological theory did not as much as put forward the rationality of man, rather that he is driven by irrational forces) was seemingly two-fold in fin de siecle literature. First, was the depiction of the separation of inner and outward character (a painting that serves as the mirror of the soul of a debauched, perfect-looking man in Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray or a Mr. Hyde, the monster to the respectable Dr. Jekyll in the famous novel by Robert Louis Stevenson) whose reconciliation would not happen in actual life but would be brought about only by death. Second, was the cold-blooded, detached view of life as a field where one can experiment and perform whose boundaries need not be set by society, but by only the individual. In both cases, the case of appreciation for what constitutes beauty or in general, what constitutes art, is laid at the mercy of a conscious or unconscious imitation of the scientific method. But does science lends itself to the cause of art or the appreciation of what is true or beautiful Walter Pater who influenced Oscar Wilde as a student, wrote in his essay, Style that literature's enterprise "may well lie in the naturalization of the vocabulary of science, so only it be under the eye of a sensitive scholarship--in a liberal naturalisation of the ideas of science too, for after all the chief stimulus of good style is to possess a full, rich, complex matter to grapple with" (Pater p. 16). In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, the "full, rich, complex matter to grapple with" has been introduced to Dorian Gray by Lord Henry Wotton whose fascination with the methods of science was applied to the investigation of human life (Wilde chapter 3). That the main character in the novel would indeed take literally Lord Wotton's advice that "the only way to the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it" (Wilde chapter 2), is shown how seemingly the material of life is under the control of the in dividual - much like a scientist is in control of laboratory. The difference lies of course is that a scientist what experiments from are inanimate - not creatures of feelings, sensibilities or complex passions. What Dr. Jekyll at the start enjoyed over the safety of limiting his evil side to Mr. Hyde, would unravel when the evil side eventually took over his own body - the case of the material devouring the creator or the artist. The aesthete character as depicted in fin de siecle literature also shows how detachment and obsession are the contradictory attitudes towards beauty. It is not as much as morality or insistence on the weight of value has no part in it, as much as beauty seems to be confined in the recesses of the mind, its purity guarded and valued for its own sake - only to be wasted away when its feet touches the ground. In Dorian Gray, as much as the tiring paradoxes mouthed by Lord Wotton, beauty is only in the mind, and its attainment is through its defilement and destruction in real experience. To a certain extent, the character of Gilbert Osmond who fascinated the main character enough to fall into his trap in Henry James' A Portrait of Lady is a fine specimen of such an

The Development and Structure of Nursing Knowledge Paper Essay

The Development and Structure of Nursing Knowledge Paper - Essay Example Nonetheless, there are some characterizing differences between theoretical and practical knowledge in nursing. Differences between theoretical and practical knowledge in nursing Theoretical knowledge Practical knowledge Also referred to as â€Å"know-that† knowledge, theoretical knowledge is gained from conducting various types of research. Also referred to as â€Å"know-how† knowledge, practical knowledge is acquired through individual experience. Involves trying to identify the necessary conditions for the occurrence of a real-life situation. Involves what happens during real-life situations. Involves what nurses read or are told concerning patient care. Involves what nurses observe during patient care. It is rational, in that it is easily communicated through description. It is tactical, in that it is hard to communicate this knowledge by word of mouth; observing someone doing it is more helpful. It is used to predict future occurrences, using cause-and-effect correl ations. It is used to attend to immediate situations, while relying on psychomotor skills. It is conditional and subject to inaccuracy and future challenges. Time, skill, and competence lead to more refined practical knowledge. In the end, although there are glaring differences between theoretical and practical knowledge in nursing, none can exist without the other. ... The most pertinent issue concerns the incongruity between what is taught in nursing courses and what actual practice demands. Aligning nursing education with actual practice All through the history of nursing, emergent healthcare issues have led to the adoption of new and different designs of the nursing curriculum. In the modern world, the healthcare industry is undergoing a lot of changes occasioned by new lifestyles, new technologies, and demographic changes. As a result, there have been concerns over whether the nursing education provided in nursing schools is still relevant in the healthcare industry. According to McKenna & Slevin (2008) one of the issues that have caused the public to lack confidence in the nursing curriculum is the increased number of medical errors. Fundamentally, medical errors mean patient safety is at risk, leading to an increased number of people dying from medical errors. It has been argued that there exists a large discrepancy between theory and practic e in nursing education. Today, this concern is gaining more global attention, as research shows that graduate nurses are unable to apply their theoretical knowledge to nursing practice. NACNEP (2010) states that a study conducted in 2008 showed that graduate nurses felt confident that the knowledge they had acquired in while studying was sufficient to enable them practice efficiently. However, according to the research, these graduates were lacking in certain skills, such as charting patient information and the use of information technology in healthcare. As a result, it the assumption is that the current nursing curriculum emphasizes more on theory than on practice. According to McKenna & Slevin (2008) nurses spend more time