Comment 1

Scientism may be described as the belief that science is a mean of acknowledging reality and a philosophical thesis which concentrates on facts. Spirituality and religion belief in science but embraces God’s creation ideas. The tension between religion and science falls on the fact that science does not explain everything absolutely. This provides religion an opportunity to fill the gap concerning the ethics and morals (Grove, 2015). A human being is usually terrified of unknown. People want to have an absolute explanation of everything. So both religion and science are important since they offer similar and different explanations people desires. Both acts like a complement of the other one.

Combination of both religion and scientism is ideal in healthcare. Scientism may explain physical technicalities of illness and with evidence based on medication. However, religion plays its role for the patient in case science fails to explain their feeling. For instance, when a patient is hospitalized, they feel hopelessness, and scientifically there is no such explanation. No medication that exists that can make the feeling of hopelessness to disappear. But, patient prayers can help eliminate the feeling of hopelessness (Kanopy, 2014). The fact is that the patient will not get healed since prayer alone may not cure the patient in case there is no absolute factual, scientific probability.

Comment 2

From our assigned readings, one of the topics I found very interesting was the distinction made between medicine and nursing as two separate entities. Medicine focuses on scientific dimensions of the human body; nursing is caring with emphasis on the whole person as embodied (Shelly & Miller, 2006). I think this distinction is important because while medicine is generally based in science and explains the body as an object of function, nursing focuses on the person as a whole and examines and aids the individual’s function through their body. In other words, nursing doesn’t only fixate on the diagnosis or curing of disease or on the progression of healing. Nursing compassionately encompasses the person as a whole to help assist their performance in activities contributing to their individualized health and recovery status. Nursing doesn’t just relate to diagnostic tests and lab values, it takes into consideration a person’s support system, their coping mechanisms, their need for resources, their teaching needs, their cultural and religious backgrounds, etc. This is why nursing is often referred to as both ‘a science and an art’. The application of both scientific medical knowledge and empathetic, compassionate care at the most basic level is what makes nursing a unique profession.