Looking Back/Looking Forward

Writing my first commentary as co‐editor‐in‐chief on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the journal Nursing Philosophy is a dream. The special collection we developed to celebrate this milestone comprises the reflections of members of the Nursing Philosophy editorial board as well as leaders of the journal's affiliated organization, the International Philosophy of Nursing Society (IPONS). Writers were asked to identify a specific paper or author published in Nursing Philosophy published anytime in the past 25 years and then contextualize–or recontextualize–for the present. In developing this collection, we have amassed a delightful diversity of perspectives, and it has been a generative and affirmative experience seeing the ways that the work that makes this journal possible speaks to other folks, creating community through shared interests in nursing and philosophy and what each has to offer the other.

And this sense of community is what I hope we can continue to develop and foster over the next 25 years. At our recent Nursing Philosophy editorial board meeting, the collective discussed where we see the journal going in the future. My resounding takeaway from the meeting was that the future of nursing philosophy (and thus Nursing Philosophy) is capacious, and we can embrace that by continuing to open up philosophical thinking and discourse in nursing and beyond. In doing so, we can meet the present in ways that honor the technical and practical expertise of nursing while dreaming of brighter futures through lively engagement with nursing ideas through theory and philosophy. Making and holding space for a reorientation of nursing knowledge and nursing theory toward an intellectual community that values plurality, voices dissent, questions incisively, builds solidarity, challenges hierarchies, and creates collaboratively in service to more just, equitable present/futures for nursing, healthcare, all inhabitants of this planet, and beyond.

For this special collection, editorial board members, past editors, and leaders from IPONS identified previously published Nursing Philosophy papers that were influential to their thinking about ideas in nursing. The papers curated in this collection are reflections on those influential papers. An eclectic mix, the special collection showcases the diversity of ideas and approaches that Nursing Philosophy has helped foster. Many contributors reflect on ethics: Honoring past Nursing Philosophy editor Dereck Sellman, Darlaine Jantzen (2026) explores the salience of Sellman's approach to nursing and ethics, putting it in conversation with moral philosophers while outlining its value to nursing and nursing education. Taking up similar questions while reflecting on the work of Allan Armstrong, Roger Newham (2025) also takes up the question of virtue ethics, landing on the utility of a target‐oriented virtue ethics for nursing. Pamela Grace (2025) considers relativism, absolutism, and pragmatism, drawing on the work of John Drummond to think nursing ethics. Other papers take up questions of justice, resistance, agency, power: Agness Tembo (2025) makes the case for an important shift from distributive to relational justice in and for nursing; Hopkins‐Walsh and Perron 2025) explore the paradoxes that ensnare nursing when it refuses politics; and I reflect on the importance of radical philosophies and politics for nursing's future, riffing on the work of Sam Porter who in turn uses Marx (Dillard‐Wright 2026). West and Petrovskaya 2025) set out to parse the concept of agency across social theories. Still others engage questions about the production of nursing knowledge, including John Paley (2025) engagement with Martin Lipscomb's critique of qualitative research and Charles Djordjevic (2025) consideration of logical positivism in nursing research. Reflecting on Bowen and Prentice (2016) paper asking ‘Are Benner's Expert Nurses Near Extinction’, Maya Zumstein‐Shaha (YEAR) considers how Benner's model might be mobilized in service to the growing need for advanced practice nurses globally. My editorial colleague Stefanos Mantzoukas (2025) engages a paper written by Gary Rolfe and invites us to consider the ties between thinking, scholarship, and nursing science. Finally, Jose Ricardo Ayres (2025) invokes Gadamer, Habermas, and Ricoeur to move toward a philosophy of care.

Finally, we offer a hearty thank you to those nursing philosophers and philosophers of nursing who contributed to the success of our journal over the years. It is an honor and a privilege to co‐lead as the past 25 years give way to the next 25 years. We couldn't do it without you.

Conflicts of Interest

The author declares no conflicts of interest.

Jess, D.‐W. 2026. “Looking Back/Looking Forward.” Nursing Philosophy 27: e70102. 10.1111/nup.70102.

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing not applicable to this article, as no data sets were generated or analyzed during the current study.