ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I speak to the influence that Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophy has had on practice disciplines, specifically the influence on nursing practice and research. Hermeneutics in general, and Gadamer’s philosophy in particular, has a strong alliance with some of the central working philosophies and tenets of nursing history and practice. I address this history, the fit of his philosophy with nursing, and the ways that it has helped to shape a research method that is well documented in nursing research—hermeneutic inquiry. In describing this synergy of philosophy and practice, I recognize that it has not been a coincidence that the practice discipline of nursing would find itself at home in hermeneutics and that hermeneutic philosophy might find itself well-grounded in practice.
