The appropriation of knowledge about complex systems by some nursing theorists: A little-known disciplinary issue

The way of approaching knowledge construction in our discipline often involves reflection on paradigms such as reaction, reciprocal interaction, or simultaneous action. There is a belief in our discipline that complexity science or complex systems can only be approached by drawing on postmodern epistemology and simultaneous action. It therefore seemed interesting to reflect on complexity in nursing by taking as a starting point the reflection on complex thinking, on complex systems in the social sciences and in philosophy. Indeed, these invite us not to take a position at the ontological level, and to approach complexity from a radical constructivism perspective rather than one of phenomenological constructivism, which takes a position at the ontological level. This reflection is split into two distinct parts. In the first part, we trace the most important points of the work on complexity in the social sciences. In the second part, we question the ontological and epistemological foundations underlying the understanding of complexity in the nursing discipline.