On to the 'rough ground': introducing doctoral students to philosophical perspectives on knowledge.

Doctoral programmes in nursing are charged with developing the next generation of nurse scholars, scientists, and healthcare leaders. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) endorses the inclusion of philosophy of science content in research-focused doctoral programmes. Because a philosophy course circumscribed to the natural or social sciences does not address the broad forms of knowledge that are relevant to nursing practice, we have developed and co-taught a course on the philosophy of knowledge that introduces students to competing claims regarding the nature of knowledge, truth, and rationality.