Beverly Whelton

Wheeling Jesuit University
  •  13
    Human nature: a foundation for palliative care
    Nursing Philosophy 9 (2): 77-88. 2008.
    The Aristotelian‐Thomist philosopher holds that human intellectual knowledge is possible because of the order in the world and natural human capacities. It is the position of this paper that there is a shared human form or nature that unites all humanity as members of the same kind. Moral treatment is due to every human being because they are human, and is not based upon expression of abilities. Humans have substantial dynamic existence in the world, an existence which overflows in expressive re…Read more
  •  12
    Through textual analysis and an exposition of Aristotelian mathematics and logic, Acts Amid Precepts makes two points essential to a proper consideration of Thomistic moral theory. First, one must understand Aristotle’s ethical theory as having the general structure of an Aristotelian science with a hierarchy of axioms, principles, definitions, and precepts. Second, Flannery proposes that through analytic and synthetic reasoning, practical acts must be evaluated within a hierarchy of cultural an…Read more
  •  6
    The Enigma of Health: The Art of Healing in a Scientific Age (review)
    Review of Metaphysics 50 (4): 889-890. 1997.
    This valuable book makes available for the first time in English thirteen essays on the meaning of health and on the art and science of healing. Presenting Gadamer's thought from 1963 to 1991, these meditations point to the perplexities that accompany any inquiry into health and illness. Health is not something that can be made or produced. It is not revealed through investigation but rather manifests itself precisely in virtue of its escaping our attention. What emerges from the exercise of the…Read more
  •  15
    A personal retrospective
    Nursing Philosophy 20 (3). 2019.
  • Accounts of nursing that focus exclusively on behaviors and interactions remain on the level of phenomena and are caught in the problem of enumerative induction. This study goes beneath behavior to focus on human nature. With human nature as its foundation, nursing can be seen as a practical science that seeks causal knowledge for the sake of practice. It employs the resolutive mode of speculative science to discover theoretical principles, and uses the compositive mode of practical science, alo…Read more
  •  20
    The Female in Aristotle’s Biology (review)
    Review of Metaphysics 59 (3): 659-661. 2006.
    Mayhew wants to rescue Aristotle from charges of misogynic ideology. Although there are residues of traditional Greek assumptions in the biological works, Mayhew holds Aristotle was not rationalizing from these ideas. Rationalization involves self-deception, evasion of truth, and the “desire to support some outlook, agenda, or position”. Mayhew will argue that Aristotle generalized from insufficient and flawed evidence, but that it was an honest attempt at scientific reasoning and not an attempt…Read more
  •  43
    The multifaceted structure of nursing: an Aristotelian analysis
    Nursing Philosophy 3 (3): 193-204. 2002.
    A careful reading of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics focusing on his treatment of politics reveals a multifaceted discipline with political science, legislation, practice and ethics. These aspects of the discipline bear clear resemblance to the multiple conceptions of nursing. The potential that nursing is a multifaceted discipline, with nursing science as just one facet challenges the author's own conception of nursing as a practical science. Aristotle's discussion would seem to argue that nursi…Read more
  •  12
    Preparing to lecture on Aristotle's contribution to Nursing at the International Philosophy of Nursing Conference August 22, 2016, in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, I came upon the recently published article by my IPONS colleague, Allmark (2016), “Aristotle for Nursing.” Allmark (2016) provides a comprehensive and understandable overview of Aristotle's philosophical system including the substantial nature of being and the four causes of change. Nurses using Aristotle to support practice and theore…Read more
  •  28
    This discussion is grounded in Aristotelian–Thomistic realism and takes the position that nursing is a practical science. As an exposition of the title statement, distinctions are made between opinion and truth, and the speculative, productive and practical sciences. Sources of opinion and truth are described and a discussion follows that truth can be achieved through knowing principles and causes of the natural kind behind phenomena. It is proposed that humans are the natural kind behind nursin…Read more
  •  35
    Being human in a global age of technology
    Nursing Philosophy 17 (1): 28-35. 2016.
    This philosophical enquiry considers the impact of a global world view and technology on the meaning of being human. The global vision increases our awareness of the common bond between all humans, while technology tends to separate us from an understanding of ourselves as human persons. We review some advances in connecting as community within our world, and many examples of technological changes. This review is not exhaustive. The focus is to understand enough changes to think through the poss…Read more
  •  35
    This paper discusses a classic Aristotelian understanding of science, nature, and methods of inquiry and proof. It then discusses nursing as a practical science and provides some demonstrations through the application of classical methods. In the Aristotelian tradition an individual substance is a unity of form and matter: form being the intelligible universal that becomes the concept, while matter is the principle of individuation. Science is mediate intellectual causal knowledge. Inquiry uses …Read more