Philosophy and Occupational Therapy

Informing Education, Research, and Practice

Steven Taff

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781630916763
• eBook ISBN: 9781040142073
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Occupational Therapy

Philosophy and Occupational Therapy: Informing Education, Research, and Practice provides an overview of the most influential philosophical movements from past to present and shows how these philosophies are a foundational, yet underutilized, element of occupational therapy education, research, and practice.

Editor Steven D. Taff, PhD, OTR/L, FNAP, FAOTA, fills a gap in existing occupational therapy literature by exploring the major thinkers and concepts of numerous different philosophical movements and examining their implications. Taff and a multitude of chapter authors demonstrate that the vital points of human existence are found in philosophy as well as science, and that occupational therapy should incorporate a clearly articulated philosophical perspective into its evidence-based and measurement-driven paradigm.

Each chapter offers a basic description of a philosophy, outlines major thinkers and concepts and ultimately summarizes the implications for occupational therapy education, research and practice.

Philosophy and Occupational Therapy: Informing Education, Research, and Practice is a unique and essential book for occupational therapy educators, researchers, and clinicians that will enrich the teaching-learning process, ground research with depth and clarity, and spark discussion among professionals about reviving the use of philosophy in current occupational therapy practice.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• About the Editor
• Contributing Authors
• Foreword: Philosophy and Professional Reflection, Change, and Growth: References
• Chapter 1 What Is Philosophy?
• Chapter 2 Reframing the Narrative on the Philosophies Influencing the Development of Occupational Therapy
• Chapter 3 Focus on the Mental and Spiritual: Idealism and Occupational Therapy
• Chapter 4 Realism: Exploring the Divide Between What Exists and What Humans Make of It
• Chapter 5 A Teleological Perspective of Occupational Engagement: Humanism Informing Occupational Therapy
• Chapter 6 Occupation and Meaningful Living: An Existential Perspective
• Chapter 7 Romanticism and Transcendentalism: Ideas That Made Occupational Therapy Possible and Holistic Practice Necessary
• Chapter 8 Slouching Toward Utopia Hope, Fear, and the Pursuit of the Unattainable
• Chapter 9 Pragmatic Foundations Instrumentalism and Transactionalism in Occupational Therapy
• Chapter 10 Phenomenology Returning to the Things Themselves With Wonder and Curiosity
• Chapter 11 Tools, Thoughts, and Signs
• Chapter 12 An African Philosophy of Personhood in Southern Occupational Therapy
• Chapter 13 Fundamental Impermanence Process Philosophy and Occupational Potential
• Chapter 14 Analytic Philosophy: Guiding Method and Adding Precision to Occupational Therapy
• Chapter 15 Structuralism: Examining the Interrelationships Around Occupation
• Chapter 16 Critical Theory: Resources for Questioning and Transforming Everyday Life
• Chapter 17 Everyday Hermeneutics: Understanding (the Meaning of) Occupational Engagement
• Chapter 18 Deconstruction and the Institution of Occupation
• Chapter 19 Philosophical Influences on Occupational Therapy in Brazil: A Historical Timeline
• Chapter 20 Postmodernism: Foundations for Problematizing and Reimagining Conditions of Possibility
• Chapter 21 Intersectionality: Feminist Theorizing in the Pursuit of Justice and Equity
• Chapter 22 Capable and Occupied: How the Capabilities Approach Can Enrich the “Occupation” Discourse
• Chapter 23 How Philosophy Can Support Occupational Therapy's Relevance in the 21st Century
• Financial Disclosures
• Index