Toulmin’s Analysis as a Method for Examining Nursing Worldviews: Dialectical Pluralism and Modern Scientific Realism as Exemplars

Michelle Lespasio.

Abstract

Philosophical worldviews shape how nursing scholars conceptualize reality, knowledge, and evidence, yet systematic approaches for evaluating philosophical arguments are seldom discussed in nursing literature. This paper demonstrates the application of Toulmin’s model of argumentation as a method for critically examining nursing worldviews. Using dialectal pluralism and modern scientific realism as exemplars, the analysis explores the ontological, epistemological, hermeneutical, and dialectical premises underlying each perspective through the Toulmin elements of claim, grounds, warrant, backing, qualifier, and rebuttal. Rather than determining the superiority of one worldview over another, the analysis illustrates how structured argument evaluation can clarify assumptions, reveal strengths, and limitations, and promote philosophical rigor. The paper argues that Toulmin’s framework offers nursing scholars, educators, and doctoral students a practical method for critically appraising philosophical positions and strengthening nursing knowledge development, theory construction, research interpretation, and evidence-informed practice.