Within the context of health and social care education, attempts to define 'scholarship' haveudincreasingly transcended traditional academic conceptions of the term. While acknowledgingudthat many applied disciplines call for a kind of 'actionable knowledge' that is also not separateudfrom its ethical dimensions, engagement in the caring professions in particular provides anudinteresting exemplar that raises questions about the nature and practice of 'actionableudknowledge:' how is such knowledge from different domains (the head, hand and heart) integratedudand sustained? This paper is theoretical and wishes to outline some philosophical ideas that mayudbe important when considering the characteristics of the kind of scholarship for caring practicesudthat draw on deep resources for creativity and integration. Firstly, there is an attempt to clarifyudthe nature of scholarly practice by drawing on Aristotle's notion of 'phronesis' (practicaludwisdom). Secondly, a more meditative approach to the integration of knowledge, action andudethics is highlighted. Finally, its implications for scholarship are introduced, in which scholarlyudintegration may best be served by more contemplative ways of being and thinking. Drawing onudHeidegger and Gendlin, we consider the challenges of contemplative thinking for pursuingudscholarly practice. We articulate contemplative thinking as an unspecialized mode of being thatudis given to human beings as an intimate source of creativity. The sense in which unspecializationudcan be cultivated and practiced is discussed.
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