This paper discusses various phenomenological and hermeneutical approaches within international nursing research. The first part contains an extensive literature review which shows that the Anglo-American debate into qualitative research is based on translated material of German philosophers, which is then interpreted not only according to language but also to culture. Philosophical terms are therefore differently interpreted and used. German nursing research is beginning to influence this international debate. The second part contains a methodological discussion of original philosophical texts and international nursing research and provides the foundation for a research method based on Gadamer's philosophical Hermeneutics. It is concluded that qualitative nursing research can only be justified by reference to a philosophical foundation.