RT Article T1 Operationalist and inferentialist pragmatism: Implications for nursing knowledge development and practice JF Nursing philosophy VO 21 IS 4 SP 1 OP 9 A1 Younas, Ahtisham LA English YR 2020 UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1925647331 AB Philosophical inquiries in nursing are useful for analysing and critiquing existing practices, exploring contextual factors affecting practice, adapting to and sustaining ongoing changes in knowledge development, and facilitating the linkages between theory, research and practice. Nurse scholars used several philosophical schools of thought to guide knowledge development and practice. Pragmatism has been described as essential for bridging the theory-practice gap, for engaging in the inquiry-based practice and for translating knowledge into practice. The existing descriptions of pragmatism rely on rudimentary descriptions of "what works" and "inquiry-based action' aspects. However, the operationalist and inferentialist aspects of pragmatism and their worth for nursing knowledge development and practice are yet to be discussed. This paper explores the operationalist and inferentialist pragmatism and highlights the implications of these aspects for nursing knowledge development and practice. It has been argued that the dual aspect of pragmatism offers an approach to develop practical lines of action, evaluate actions in terms of their usefulness and assimilate already learned actions with the new actions. I suggested that moving beyond the rudimentary understanding of pragmatism and embracing and utilizing the dual aspect of pragmatism can bring more significant benefits for nursing. Embracing the dual aspect of pragmatism can enable nurses in developing philosophical reflexivity, emphasizing the experiential context of nursing, generating actionable and ready to use knowledge, and utilizing nursing theories to their fullest potential. K1 Charles Sanders Peirce K1 William James K1 nursing knowledge K1 nursing philosophy K1 nursing practice K1 Pragmatism DO 10.1111/nup.12323