PHI 413 Worldview Analysis And Personal Inventory • Online Nursing Essays

Sample Answer for PHI 413 Worldview Analysis and Personal Inventory Included After Question

Assessment Description

This assignment will introduce you to the concept of worldview. It will also provide you with a fundamental understanding of Christian spirituality that looks to the union of body, mind, soul, and spirit, along with how those beliefs inform a unique ethical awareness and decision-making in professional practice. In addition, you will gain knowledge about your own personal beliefs, according to your own worldview.

After reading topic Resources, you will complete the “Worldview Analysis and Personal Inventory” document in a maximum of 1,500 words, which includes prompts related to the following:

• Christian perspective of the nature of spirituality and ethics
• Scientism and two of the main arguments against it
• Ultimate reality
• Nature (origin) of the universe
• What it means to be a human being and purpose in your existence
• What knowledge is and sources of knowledge
• Ethics and where the knowledge of right and wrong comes from
• Purpose of human life and existence
• Influence of personal worldview values in decision-making within current or future professional practice

Support your response using only Chapter 1 from the textbook Practicing Dignity: An Introduction to Christian Values and Decision-Making in Health Care and two other Topic 1 Resources.  

While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

American Association of Colleges of Nursing Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education
This assignment aligns with the AACN Core Competency: 1.2

A Sample Answer For the Assignment: PHI 413 Worldview Analysis and Personal Inventory

Title: PHI 413 Worldview Analysis and Personal Inventory

Healthcare providers, especially nurses, develop worldviews based on the teachings that they attain and their cultural backgrounds. Nurses play an important part in providing care that is safe, quality, and efficient. In doing so, nurses practice based on their worldview. Garrett (2018) observes that a worldview means sets of assumptions and beliefs that impacts a nurse’s practice.

A worldview illustrates the way nurses interpret and explain their experiences in care giving as impacted certain cultural values and norms. Worldviews help nurses to have ontological and epistemic bases determining their belief systems. As such, the purpose of this essay is to analyze different worldviews and their differences. The essay also offers a personal perspective and worldview regarding certain concepts.

Christian View of the Nature of Spirituality and Ethics in Contrast to Postmodern Relativism in Health Care

According to the Christian view, spirituality and ethics originate from God as the Supreme being who controls humanity and their actions. The Christian worldview advances that all people are created in God’s image and should live in a loving relationship with Him, self, and others. Spirituality implies that one believes that God as the creator of all things desires people to live in harmony and reverence to Him through seeking spiritual nourishment based on their actions.

To be deeply spiritual implies that one can call on the power of God when sick to offer healing and attain recovery from disease (Garrett, 2018). Spiritual connectivity allows nurses to distinguish between right and wrong and is strengthened by the understanding that God is the author of what is ethical and good. Healthcare providers, especially nurses, should make effective decisions that allow them to provide better care with the understanding that all they do is to God’s glory.

God provides certain principles that Christians and all people in the world should follow (Mauk & Hobus, 2021). These principles are founded His enduring and long-term love which focuses on improving the interactions among people on earth. Based on love as the foundation, healthcare providers make decisions that are focused on improving patients’ health and not harming them in any manner.

Conversely, the postmodern relativism rejects and opposes most of the ideas and explanation of reality as provided by various worldviews, especially the Christian worldview. Postmodern relativism argues that there can never be absolute truth that is not based on any belief system. The philosophy focuses on science objectivity and scientific facts in treatment of individuals, particularly patients as a whole or holistically.

Postmodern relativism advances that spirituality is a process aimed at developing an individual’s inner world. Postmodern relativism advances that the idea of right and wrong actions is relative and that truth is subjective (Garrett, 2018). The implication is that one’s judgment of an action as right or wrong relies on the situation relative to other factors.

Therefore, healthcare providers must rely on patient belief system as some actions may be ethically inappropriate for Christians based on their beliefs. However, postmodern relativism proponents are interested in outcomes as opposed to moral aspects of their treatment interventions.

Scientism and Two Main Arguments Against It

Scientism denote a belief system which advances that knowledge concerning the world can only be attained through science. These include illness and diseases as well as medical interventions that focus on providing recovery for one from certain conditions. According to scientism, all knowledge in the world emanates from science and scientific discoveries or efforts. Scientism advances that it is only science that can explain all phenomena in the world.

Scientism argues that most of the claims on knowledge and truth are false and personal opinions since they have not been approved by any evidence (Burnet, 2019). The implication is that truth requires evidence and not just assumptions founded on personal or individual aspects. Scientism opposes the Christian worldview on aspects like the existence of God as a Supreme being and a force that authors almost all natural aspects of the world.

The perspective advances that anything should be supported by evidence before it is said to be true.  However, it is important to know the difference between science and scientism as scientism is a philosophical perspective that explains not nature but scientific approaches and models related to limits of knowledge. These characteristics pf scientism have led to the development of arguments that are opposed to it.

The initial argument is that the profound knowledge about objects and phenomena existing today cannot be a preserve of science alone. Therefore, not all phenomena in the world require or can be explained using science and be proved through the scientific tools and instruments. For instance, scientism is limited in its approaches to evaluate all components associated with people’s spirituality and emotional relations and interactions (Mauk & Hobus, 2021). Additionally, it is not possible to test the good and bad and deploy scientific knowledge in these components.

This implies that the limitations of science do not enable individuals to discuss scientism as a working philosophical perspective. Secondly, scientism is a self-refuting perspective. The logic is that according to scientism, all truths and beliefs should be supported or testes by scientific tools to be existing or true. However, the effectiveness of scientism itself cannot be supported or examined through science. Therefore, it cannot ascertain the appropriateness of scientism as a philosophical model.

Personal Perspective and Worldview

i). Ultimate Reality

The ultimate reality entails understanding that the world emanates from God as the creator and author of life in all perspectives. From a Christian perspective, ultimate realty exists based in all things that happen, the interactions among people and fellowship. God created people to fellowship with Him. God promised them long lives on earth if they lived based on His principles. Individuals can determine right and wrong and understand most concerning world issues.

The implication is that God has the power to give or take life (Filonenko et al., 2018). He is the source of knowledge with some aspects that even science and scientism cannot explain. The implication is that the ultimate reality entails uniting the physical and spiritual aspects and concepts in one universe. Human beings have both the spiritual and physical realms that demonstrate the ultimate reality of existence.

ii). Nature of the Universe

God created the universe to sustain human life and all the living things that exist in it. The universe entails all things that are in existence irrespective of their state. It encompasses the planets, the plants and human life as well as the space. The implication is that the universe comprises of the physical and the spiritual aspects that form the basis of God’s creation (Rieg et al., 2018b).

God’s love replenishes his universal creation and demonstrates that whoever believes in this existence shall remain in connection with Him. Therefore, I believe that the universe is created as ultimate reality of God’s existence and plan for human beings. The universe shows individuals purpose of existence or life and all focus on these attributes in their respective professional and personal lives.

iii). A Human Being

From my perspective, a human being is one of the most essential part of the whole creation by God. God created human beings in his image based on the concept of “Imago Dei” and gave them authority and power over other things that He made. Human being have a perfect way based on their creation and are procreators together with God in the world. Human beings have physical and spiritual realm and have authority bestowed on them by God to command other creator on the surface and in the waters.

Despite the ingenuity of the human being, he cannot understand nature and universe fully as well as the ultimate realty (Mauk & Hobus, 2021). The human being remains a perfect God’s creation with brains that have studied different aspects of science to enhance knowledge and understanding of his planet.

vi). Knowledge

Knowledge is an abstract idea whose presence is illustrated but whose accurate existence cannot be proven physically. Human beings possess knowledge throughout the lives as none is born with it. The human brain has the capacity to learn and store information acquired and deploy it when needed. The implication is that knowledge comprises of views, ideas, facts and perspectives as well as personal intuitions that propel an individual to making certain decisions when confronted with certain situations (Rieg et al., 2018b). I believe that individuals attain knowledge through both formal and informal settings.

 Furthermore, innovations and novel ideas also provide people with knowledge, especially when the implementation of such aspects add to more understanding of different phenomena under investigations (O’Brien, 2018). The insights that individuals attain either divinely or through formal and informal ways of knowledge acquisition are essential as they help one to understand the realty and nature of the universe.

Human beings possess and use knowledge to develop complex systems and make scientific discoveries. However, at the heart of knowledge acquisition is the need to appreciate God’s gift of wisdom and even ideas. I believe that God is the source of the ingenuity that people show as part of their knowledge schemas.

v). Basis of Ethics

Ethics help one determine right and wrong as well as make morally upright choices and decisions. My basis of ethics is my worldview and personal experiences based on my interactions in the community and beyond. Christian teachings and the moral values and norms taught within my family and community provide the strongest foundation of ethics (Rieg et al., 2018). For instance, Christian teachings through Jesus Christ and even the Old Testament prophets are categorical that people should do good and make best decisions for the benefit of others.

Being servant leaders as nurses implores one to go beyond the professional calling and offer more to patients than expected. The principle of love as the Golden Rule illustrates that the basis of ethics is religious teaching while traditional practices in communities teach norms and values that one should adhere to as a member of the given cultural and ethnic group.

vi). Purpose of Existence

God created human beings with a purpose and it important for any individual to find the reason for their existence. Some may exist to protect their families, offer services to community, demonstrate love, and show the overall plan by God for human beings. Therefore, I believe that the purpose of my existence is love God and my fellow human beings by serving them through my personal and professional engagements and interactions (O’Brien, 2018). Sin and evil came to the world because of sin by man.

Further, God uses Jesus Christ as a human being to bring salvation and direct people to His original plan. The implication is that human beings are created with a special individual purpose which is demonstrated throughout their lives in various facets like professional careers and personal lives. For instance, God commands all to show love and serve others as parents, husbands, wives, colleagues, and leaders in different capacities. Imperatively, my purpose of existence is to serve God’s will through my professional life as a nurse which is a calling from Him.

Conclusion

The need to have a worldview as a nurse or healthcare provider cannot be overemphasized. A worldview allows one to understand their patients, implement interventions that are based on effective knowledge and cultural attributes of their patients. Healthcare workers are a critical component of care delivery and when they appreciate the diversity of their patients and the need to offer culturally-sensitive care, they offer quality care and enhance patient outcomes.

References

Burnet, T. (2019). What is Scientism?

https://www.aaas.org/programs/dialogue-science-ethics-and-religion/what-scientism

Filonenko, L., Furdui, S., Maksymchuk, B., Demchenko, I., Vysochan, L., Pletenicka, L., … &

Maksymchuk, I. (2020). Historical aspects of forming the value attitude to human being

at pupils of sports boarding schools. Scientific Journal of National Pedagogical

Dragomanov University. Series 15. Scientific and pedagogical problems of physical

culture (physical culture and sports), 1(121)), 107-112.

Garrett, B. (2018). Empirical nursing: The art of evidence-based care. Bingley, UK: Emerald

            Publishing Limited.

Mauk, K. L., & Hobus, M. E. (2021). Nursing as ministry. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett

            Learning.

O’Brien, M. E. (2018). Spirituality in nursing: Standing on holy ground. Burlington, MA: Jones

 & Bartlett Learning.

Rieg, L. S., Newbanks, R. S. & Sprunger, R. (2018). Philosophy and the Christian Worldview:

            Analysis, Assessment, and Development. Heythrop Journal, 55(1), 170–171.

  Rieg, L. S., Newbanks, R. S., & Sprunger, R. (2018b). Caring from a Christian worldview:

Exploring nurses’ source of caring, faith practices, and view of nursing. Journal of Christian Nursing, 35(3), 168-173. doi: 10.1097/CNJ.0000000000000474.