The aim of this study was to explore nursing students' and clinically active nurses' experiential ideas about nursing to provide a foundation for a critical reflection on the complexities involved in studying and practicing nursing. Using a participatory approach, 9 experiential ideas about nursing as a subject, nursing practice, and being a nurse were identified and reflected upon with a total of 238 participants. This was followed by a theoretical analysis in relation to the clinical gaze in nursing and epistemology, which ends in an argument for a rediscovery of the broader Aristotelian view of knowledge in nursing education and practice.