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In Aristotle's work, phronesis is the intellectual virtue that helps turn one's moral instincts into practical action. [ 4 ] [ 10 ] He writes that moral virtues help any person to achieve the end, and that phronesis is what it takes to discover the means to gain that end. [ 4 ]
Aristotle also says, for example in NE Book VI, that such a complete virtue requires intellectual virtue, not only practical virtue, but also theoretical wisdom. Such a virtuous person, if they can come into being, will choose the best life of all, which is the philosophical life of contemplation and speculation.
Practical wisdom or prudence (phrónēsis) is the perspicacity necessary to conduct personal business and affairs of state. It encompasses the skill to distinguish the beneficial from the detrimental, to understand the attainment of happiness, and to discern the right course of action in every situation.
Aristotle ends his investigation by comparing the importance of practical wisdom (phronesis) and philosophical wisdom (sophia). Although Aristotle describes sophia as the more serious (it is concerned with higher things), he mentions the earlier philosophers, Anaxagoras and Thales , as examples proving that one can be wise, having both ...
As John McDowell puts it, practical wisdom involves a "perceptual sensitivity" to what a situation requires. [ 12 ] Eudaimonia ( εὐδαιμονία ) is a state variously translated from Greek as 'well-being', 'happiness', 'blessedness', and in the context of virtue ethics, 'human flourishing'. [ 13 ]
Aristotle also mentions several other traits: Gnome (good sense) – passing judgment, "sympathetic understanding" [4]: VI.11 Synesis (understanding) – comprehending what others say, does not issue commands; Phronesis (practical wisdom) – knowledge of what to do, knowledge of changing truths, issues commands [4]: VI.8
This he explains after first comparing the four other truth revealing capacities of soul: technical know how , logically deduced knowledge (epistēmē, sometimes translated as "scientific knowledge"), practical wisdom , and lastly theoretical wisdom , which is defined by Aristotle as the combination of nous and epistēmē.
Phronesis, or practical wisdom, holds an important place in rhetorical theory as a central aspect of judgment and practice. Aristotle's notion of phronesis fits with his treatise on rhetoric because neither, in his estimation, could be reduced to an episteme or a techne , and both deal with the ability to deliberate about contingent, variable ...