Co-contributors: Christina Nyirati and
Jacqueline Fawcett *

We maintain that most nursologists conduct research and practice within the context of nursology knowledge, although that knowledge is not always explicit, for it is impossible to think atheoretically (Fawcett, 2019).

What, then, does “thinking nursology” mean? For us, this means thinking within the context of explicit nursology knowledge, including but not limited to the nursology philosophies, conceptual models, theories, and patterns of knowing that are found on nursology.net.

When nursologists are committed to thinking nursology, this way of thinking becomes a habit. As Broncatello (1980) explained: “Much like the development of any habitual behavior, it initially requires thought, discipline and the gradual evolvement of a mind set of what is important to observe within the guidelines of the model. As is true of most habits, however, it makes decision making less complicated” (p. 23).

Charles Sanders Peirce, the founding philosopher of American pragmatism, wrote prolifically about the intersection of practice, habit, belief, and doubt in shaping human understanding, logic, and experience. Peirce regarded habit as the solidification of belief and as central to understanding how thought and action evolve over time (Peirce, 1955/2011). For Peirce, habit is not mere repetition or routine; rather, it is the embodied outcome of inquiry, reasoning, and lived experience.

Peirce’s concept of habit provides a critical bridge between theory and practice by understanding “thinking” itself as a form of embodied, evolving habit. Through repeated reasoning and action, mental pathways are formed (Pierce often described these mental pathways metaphorically as grooves worn into a path) such that future thought and response become increasingly automatic. In this way, habit links abstract ideas to concrete experience. Practicing theory, from a Peircean perspective, is therefore not simply the accumulation of knowledge but a process of habit-taking: the disciplined development of more reasonable, responsive habits of mind through continuous engagement with the world. As Black (2013) explained, in Peirce’s pragmatism a habit is a disposition to act in certain ways under given conditions. These conditions are a “learned rule” or “second nature” that in the mind governs future interpretation and action. Theory thus becomes an ongoing, practical process of self-formation that shapes how we inquire, respond, and act.

This philosophical understanding of habit offers a useful lens through which to revisit Patricia Benner’s seminal work on nursing expertise. Benner’s research illuminated how expert nurses develop a deep, intuitive grasp of clinical situations through extensive experience (Benner, 1982, 1984). Although Benner did not explicitly describe “nursing theory as habit,” she did describe a fundamental shift in how nurses use knowledge, moving from reliance on abstract principles and rule-based reasoning toward intuitive, situation-specific understanding. This shift reflects the development of skills and practices that function habitually and often operate as tacit knowledge.

Drawing on Michael Polanyi’s concept of tacit knowledge (the knowledge we possess but cannot fully articulate) and the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition, Benner explained how nurses move from novice reliance on abstract principles to embodied, experiential knowing. At the expert level, nurses grasp situations holistically and understand what needs to be done beyond formal rules. Knowledge is no longer applied from the outside; it is lived, internalized, and enacted fluidly in practice.

CN: Considering nursology through the lens of “practice as habit” invites attention to the embodied and theoretical dimensions of nursing action and its relationship to praxis. Reflecting on nurses who have impressed me as experts, I recall moments when their responses emerged from deeply internalized theoretical knowledge integrated with the full range of nursing’s patterns of knowing. These nurses demonstrated a clear awareness of their responsibility in each moment, choosing to act rightly and responding with precision, timing, and moral clarity. Their practice was skillful and artful—drawing upon empirically validated knowledge as well as wisdom handed down from nurse to nurse. Such responsiveness requires presence of mind and sustained discipline, cultivated over time.

Donald Schön’s (1983) The Reflective Practitioner further deepens this understanding of expert practice. Schön argued that professionals do not simply apply textbook knowledge, or what he termed “technical rationality.” Instead, Schön explained how professionals rely on “knowing-in-action,” an intuitive, tacit understanding developed through experience. Professionals also engage in “reflection-in-action,” thinking while doing, and “reflection-on-action,” thinking after the fact, to navigate complex, uncertain, and unique situations. Through what Schön describes as a “reflective conversation with the situation,” practitioners improvise, experiment, and learn from unexpected outcomes, developing practical wisdom that makes practice increasingly responsive and artful.

Taken together, Peirce’s pragmatism, Benner’s work on nursing expertise, and Schön’s theory of reflective practice illuminate how ‘Thinking Nursology’ can be understood as a disciplined, embodied habit. Habit, in this sense, is not mechanical or unreflective. Rather, it is ethical, relational, and open to continual inquiry. ‘Thinking Nursology’ becomes a way of being in practice, one that integrates theory, reflection, and action as an ongoing commitment to responsible, responsive nursing praxis.

Thinking Nursology as Habit

‘Thinking Nursology as Habit’ names a way of knowing, being, and practicing that emerges through disciplined engagement with nursology over time. Drawing on Peirce’s understanding of habit as belief embodied in action, Benner’s account of expert nursing practice as intuitive and tacit, and Schön’s conception of reflective knowing-in-action, ‘Thinking Nursology’ becomes a cultivated disposition rather than a discrete cognitive act. It is the ongoing formation of habits of mind, presence, and moral attention that orient nurses toward responsible action in complex, lived situations. In this sense, ‘Thinking Nursology’ is not something nurses do occasionally or apply after the fact; it is a habitual, reflective praxis through which theory is lived, inquiry is sustained, and nursing knowledge is continuously enacted in practice.

We invite you to join us at the 2026 Nursing Theory Conference as we further explore how ‘Thinking Nursology’ as habit relates to praxis, reflection-in-action, and the socialization of nurses into theoretical ways of knowing and acting.

References

Benner, P. (1982). From novice to expert, American Journal of Nursing, 82(3), 402-407.

Benner, P. (1984). From novice to expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing practice. Addison‐Wesley Publishing Company

Black, J. D. (2013). Peirce on habit, practice, and theory: The priority of practice and the autonomy of theory (Master’s thesis). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. https://hdl.handle.net/10289/7847

Broncatello, K. F. (1980). Auger in action: Application of the model. Advances in Nursing Science 2(1) 12-23. doi: 10.1097/00012272-198001000-00003

Fawcett, J. (2019, January 22) The Impossibility of Thinking “Atheoretically.” Nursology.net. https://nursology.net/2019/01/22/the-impossibility-of-thinking-atheoretically/

Peirce, C. S. (2011). Philosophical writings of Peirce (J. Buchler, Ed.). Dover Publications. (Original work published 1955)

Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Basic Books.

• Both of the authors of this blog are members of the Nursology.net Advisory Team