Abstract
The concept of vocation, traditionally associated with religious and spiritual dimensions, has taken on a new meaning in contemporary society, particularly within the context of healthcare professions. This article explores the transformation of vocation from a “divine calling” to a conscious professional choice, focusing on the reflections of philosophers such as Husserl, Blum, Kierkegaard, Weber, and Ricoeur. In light of the global health crisis and increasing organizational disenchantment, it proposes a reinterpretation of vocation as a tool to restore meaning, ethics, and humanity to caregiving professions.
References
Benner, P. (2003). L’eccellenza nella pratica clinica dell’infermiere: L’apprendimento basato sull’esperienza (L. Rasero & C. Calamandrei, Trans.). McGraw-Hill.
Broome, M. R., Rodrigues, J., Ritunnano, R., & Humpston, C. (2024). Psychiatry as a vocation: Moral injury, COVID-19, and the phenomenology of clinical practice. Clinical Ethics, 19(2), 157–170. https://doi.org/10.1177/14777509231208361
Čartolovni, A., Stolt, M., Scott, P. A., & Suhonen, R. (2021). Moral injury in healthcare professionals: A scoping review and discussion. Nursing Ethics, 28(5), 590–602. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733020966776
Dik, B. J., & Duffy, R. D. (2009). Calling and vocation at work: Definitions and prospects for research and practice. The Counseling Psychologist, 37(3), 424–450.
Dimock, M. (2019). Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/
Duffy, R. D., & Dik, B. J. (2013). Research on calling: What have we learned and where are we going? Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83(3), 428–436.
Eraut, M. (1994). Developing professional knowledge and competence. Falmer Press.
Evans, J. (1997). Men in nursing: Issues of gender segregation and hidden advantage. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 26(2), 226–231.
Gadamer, H. G. (2001). Verità e metodo. Bompiani.
Heinämaa, S. (2020). Values of love: Two forms of infinity characteristic of human persons. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 19(3), 431–450.
Heinämaa, S. (2023). Vocational life: Personal, communal and temporal structures. Continental Philosophy Review, 56(3), 461–481.
Hernández-Xumet, J. E., Fernández-González, J. P., et al. (2025a). Professional practice in health: Towards an essential integration of vocation, ethics and social skills. A systematic review. Medical Research Archives, 13(6). https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v13i6.6651
Hernández-Xumet, J. E., García-Hernández, A. M., Fernández-González, J. P., & Marrero-González, C. M. (2025b). Vocation of human care and soft skills in nursing and physiotherapy students: A cross-sectional study. Nursing Reports, 15(2), Article 70. https://doi.org/10.3390/nursrep15020070
Hey, L., & Nowakowski, K. (2013). Understanding the vocation of health professionals [Honors thesis, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University]. Digital Commons. https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/honors_theses/2/
Husserl, E. (2002). Idee per una fenomenologia pura e per una filosofia fenomenologica. FrancoAngeli.
Kar, P. (2020). Partha Kar: Is being a doctor a vocation? BMJ, 368, Article m227. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m227
Kierkegaard, S. (1984). Il concetto dell’angoscia. Laterza.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Sage Publications.
Manca, D. (2018). Husserl and the phenomenological unconscious. Paradigmi: Rivista di Critica Filosofica, (3), 595–606.
Meleis, A. I. (2012). Theoretical nursing: Development and progress (5th ed.). Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Moran, D. (2011). Edmund Husserl: Founder of phenomenology. Polity Press.
Morgan, M. (2023). Matt Morgan: Is medicine no longer a vocation? BMJ, 381, Article p974. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p974
Polanyi, M. (1966). Personal knowledge: Towards a post-critical philosophy. University of Chicago Press.
Rahner, K. (1977). Vocation and mission. In Theological writings IV. Morcelliana.
Ricoeur, P. (1993). Sé come un altro (D. Iannotta, Trans.). Jaca Book.
Taylor, C. (1993). Radici dell’io: La costruzione dell’identità moderna (R. Rini, Trans.). Feltrinelli.
van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. State University of New York Press.
Weber, M. (1965). L’etica protestante e lo spirito del capitalismo. Laterza.
White, K. (2002). Nursing as vocation. Nursing Ethics, 9(3), 279–290.
Williams, A. (2020). [Review of the book iGen: Why today’s super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant, less happy, by J. M. Twenge]. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 48(3), 290–293.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2026 Silvia Sturniolo
