Aesthetic Attitude Based on Kant’s Aesthetics of Caring Relationships in Nursing

Abstract

(1) Background: Although aesthetic attitude has been comprehended as one of the fundamental traits in nursing, there is a lack of discussion considering Kant’s aesthetics of caring relationships. The purpose of this study was to illuminate aesthetic and moral characteristics of caring expressed in the caring relationship between a nurse and patient and suggest a new perspective of aesthetic attitude based on Kant’s aesthetics of care ethics. (2) Methods: A theoretical reflection was contemplated regarding notions of aesthetic attitude in the caring relationship between a nurse and patient. (3) Results: human faculty of reflective aesthetic judgment to feel the beautiful and the sublime through imagination and free play in Kant’s aesthetics could be applied to the aesthetic attitude in the field of nursing. (4) Conclusions: A nurse who has trained with this aesthetic attitude can act as a moral agent and contribute to the protection and promotion of human dignity in a caring relationship.

Aesthetics in Nursing Practice as Experienced by Children During Hospitalization in Philippines

“…A nurse with an aesthetic attitude can perform as a moral agent and contribute to protecting and promoting human dignity in a caring relationship 42. The nurses' attitudes, such as gentleness, kindness, willingness to contribute, and honoring the patients, make them spirited and self-reliant to provide for patients' physical and psychological needs, especially in the pediatrics unit.…”