An Analysis Of Lisa Newton's Argument: In Defense Of...

To Argue With A Philosopher In this paper, I will explain and critique the philosopher, Lisa Newton’s argument, "In Defense of the Traditional Nurse." I will explain her two main arguments and then I will take a stance of disagreement upon several parts of her two main arguments that I find are weakly supported. The issue of a nurse's autonomy, and a nurse as a motherly figure are the two main arguments of this paper that I will critique and argue against. This is an important issue to address because she is wanting to regress back to a time when nurses had less of a voice. Newton introduces her first main argument of nurse autonomy by integrating Aristotle’s philosophy of understanding the excellence of anything by using it as a basis for …show more content…
She then asks what those needs are. Newton makes two important points that lead to her second main argument. Her first point is that if a patient is ill or disabled a doctor will be unable to administer the special care that the patient will need. Her second point is the patient will not be able to perform simple bodily functions, such as walking - and will need additional assistance. She then delves into the emotional aspects of the patients needs. She concludes that the patient will exhibit some emotional needs that can be remedied with a sympathetic ear, and a caring countenance. Newton is careful to analyze these needs in such a way as to never mention that a nurse would obviously be fulfill all of these roles. Instead, she uses the situation to cleverly introduce her second main argument. “The nurse is to be a mother surrogate” (Newton,132). What she means by that is a nurse is to act like a mother to the patient. To further validate her main argument, Newton explains where the word “nurse” derived from and its literal meaning. She compares it to the word “mother” and claims that the meanings correspond with each other and end up meaning the same thing. She ultimately concludes that because of these archaic semblances a nurse as a motherly figure is very “appropriate.” As strong as the support Newton shows for a nurse as a mother surrogate, she recognizes that there are also limitations to her argument. In an interesting twist of irony, Newton argues that the motherly role will not work without some tempering. As it stands, playing the role of a mother would naturally imply that the nurse has authority over the patient and will thusly be making the decisions for the patient. Newton does not want to jeopardizes the patient's own autonomy. What she wants is for the nurse to take on a subservient motherly role that will not threaten the authority of

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An Analysis Of Lisa Newton's Argument: In Defense Of The Traditional Nurse

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An Analysis Of Lisa Newton's Argument: In Defense Of The Traditional Nurse

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