Tai Chi philosophy and nursing epistemology.

This article analyzes the philosophy underpinning Tai Chi practice in light of nursing epistemology. The first half of the article reviews the general characteristics of major Chinese philosophical traditions that have been merged in Tai Chi: Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. In the second half, themes of integration and praxis in Tai Chi are linked with Carper's fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing. Tai Chi is a practical fusion of humanistic philosophy with an experiential dimension of movement in a nondualistic foundation. The author argues that TC philosophy can be applied to integrated knowledge development and nursing praxis.