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In ancient Greek philosophy, phronesis (Ancient Greek: φρόνησις, romanized: phrónēsis) refers to the type of wisdom or intelligence concerned with practical action. It implies good judgment and excellence of character and habits. In Aristotelian ethics, the concept is distinguished from other words for wisdom and intellectual virtues (such as episteme and sophia) because of its practical character.

Ancient Greek Philosophy

Socrates

In some of Socrates' dialogues, he proposes that phronēsis is a necessary condition for all virtue, and that to be good is to be an intelligent or reasonable person with intelligent and reasonable thoughts. In Plato's Meno, Socrates writes that phronēsis is the most important attribute to learn, although it cannot be taught and is instead gained through the understanding of one's own self.

Aristotle

In the sixth book of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, he distinguished the concepts of sophia (wisdom) and phronesis, and described the relationship between them and other intellectual virtues. He writes that Sophia is a combination of nous, the ability to discern reality, and epistēmē, things that "could not be otherwise".He then writes that Phronesis involves not only the ability to decide how to reach a certain end, but the ability to reflect upon and determine "good ends" as well.

Aristotle also writes that although sophia is higher and more serious than phronesis, the pursuit of wisdom and happiness requires both, as phronesis facilitates sophia. According to Aristotle's theory of rhetoric, phronesis is one of the three types of appeals to character (ethos).

Aristotle claims that gaining phronesis requires gaining experience, as he writes:

...although the young may be experts in geometry and mathematics and similar branches of knowledge , we do not consider that a young man can have Prudence . The reason is that Prudence includes a knowledge of particular facts, and this is derived from experience, which a young man does not possess; for experience is the fruit of years.

Modern Philosophy

According to philosophers Kristjánsson, Fowers, Darnell and Pollard, phronesis means making decisions in regards to moral events or circumstances. This four-component philosophical account became know at the Aristotelian Phronesis Model, or APM. There is recent work to return the virtue of practical judgement to overcome disagreements and conflicts in the form of Aristotle's phronesis.

In Aristotle's work, phronesis is the intellectual virtue that helps turn one's moral instincts into practical action. 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. Without moral virtues, phronesis degenerates into an inability to make practical actions in regards to genuine goods for man.

In Social Sciences

In Alasdair MacIntyre's book After Virtue, he called for a phronetic social science. He writes that for every prediction made by social scientific theory there are usually counter-examples, meaning that the unpredictability of human beings and human life requires focus on practical experiences.

In psychologist Heiner Rindermann's book Cognitive Capitalism, he uses the term phronesis to describe a rational approach to thinking and acting, "a circumspect and thoughtful way of life in a rational manner".

Critiques of the APM's empirical limitations led to McLoughlin, Thoma, and Kristjánsson developing the neo-Aristotelian Phronesis Model (neo-APM), which refines the construct using contemporary psychometric techniques. This updated model empirically identified ten distinct components and employed network analysis to highlight the interconnectedness and centrality of key elements, such as aspired moral identity and moral deliberation. The neo-APM thus provides a more nuanced and empirically valid framework for understanding practical wisdom in psychological and educational contexts.

See also

• Casuistry – Reasoning by extrapolation
• Common sense – Sound practical judgement in everyday matters
• Dianoia
• Doctrine of the Mean – Central doctrine of Confucianism
• Élan vital – Hypothetical explanation for evolution and development of organisms
• Judgement – Decision making; evaluation of evidence to make a decision
• Rhetorical reason – Faculty of discovering the crux of the matter
• Nepsis – Eastern Orthodox concept of wakefulness
• Metanoia

References

1. • Guthrie, W. K. C. (1990). A History of Greek Philosophy. Vol. 6: Aristotle, an Encounter (revised ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 348. ISBN 0521387604.
   • Engberg-Pedersen, Troels (1983) . Aristotle's Theory of Moral Insight. Oxford University Press. p. 236. ISBN 0198246676.
2. Long, Christopher P. (2004). The Ethics of Ontology: Rethinking an Aristotelian Legacy. State University of New York Press. p. 123). ISBN 079146119X.
3. Gallagher, Shaun (1992). "Self-understanding and phronēsis". Hermeneutics and Education. State University of New York Press. pp. 197–199. ISBN 0791411753.
4. ^ Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics.
5. Parry, Richard (2021), "Episteme and Techne", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2021 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2021-11-28
6. Aristotle. Rhetoric. 1378a.
7. Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. The Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rackham, H. VI.8¶5 1142.
8. Kristjánsso, Kristján; Fowers, Blaine; Darnell, Catherine; Pollard, David (2021). "Phronesis (Practical Wisdom) as a Type of Contextual Integrative Thinking". Review of General Psychology. 25 (3): 239–257. doi:10.1177/10892680211023063. S2CID 237456851.
9. Beresford, E.B. (1996). "Can phronesis save the life of medical ethics?". Theoretical Medicine. 17 (3): 209–24. doi:10.1007/BF00489446. PMID 8952418. S2CID 39100551. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
10. Kristjansson, Kristján (2015). "Phronesis as an ideal in professional medical ethics: some preliminary positionings and problematics". Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics. 36 (5): 299–320. doi:10.1007/s11017-015-9338-4. PMID 26387119. S2CID 254786871. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
11. MacIntyre, Alasdair (1981). After Virtue (2nd revised ed.). US: Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-0268006112.
12. Rindermann, Heiner (2018). Cognitive Capitalism: Human Capital and the Wellbeing of Nations (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 188. doi:10.1017/9781107279339. ISBN 978-1107279339.
13. McLoughlin, Shane; Thoma, Stephen; Kristjánsson, Kristján (2025-01-22). "Was Aristotle right about moral decision-making? Building a new empirical model of practical wisdom". PLoS One. 20 (1): e0317842. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0317842. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 11753716. PMID 39841702.

Sources and further reading

• Andorno, Roberto (2012). "Do our moral judgements need to be guided by principles?". Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. 21 (4): 457–465. doi:10.1017/S0963180112000230. PMID 22828040. S2CID 29078995.
• Bernasconi, Robert (1989). "Heidegger's Destruction of Phronesis". Southern Journal of Philosophy. 28 supp.: 127–147.
• Geertz, Clifford (2001). "Empowering Aristotle". Science. 293 (5527): 53. doi:10.1126/science.1062054. S2CID 144219739. Archived from the original on 2011-05-31.
• Heidegger, Martin (1997). Plato's Sophist. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Hughes, Gerard J. (2001). Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Aristotle on Ethics. London: Psychology Press. ISBN 0-415-22187-0.
• Krajewski, Bruce (2011). "The dark side of phrónēsis: revisiting the political incompetence of philosophy". Classica. 24 (1/2): 7–21. doi:10.14195/2176-6436_24_1.
• MacIntyre, Alasdair C. (2000). After virtue: a study in moral theory. London: Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-1663-3.
• McNeill, William (1999). The Glance of the Eye: Heidegger, Aristotle, and the Ends of Theory. Albany: State University of New York Press.
• Nonaka, Ikujiro; Toyama, Ryoko; Hirata, Toru (2008). Managing Flow: A Process Theory of the Knowledge-Based Firm. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Rorty, Amélie, ed. (1980). Essays on Aristotle's Ethics. Univ. of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04041-4.
• Sorabji, Richard (1973–1974). "Aristotle on the Role of Intellect in Virtue". Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. 74: 107–129. doi:10.1093/aristotelian/74.1.107. Reprinted in Rorty.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Wiggins, David (1975–1976). "Deliberation and Practical Reason". Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. 76: 29–51. doi:10.1093/aristotelian/76.1.29. Reprinted in Rorty.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

External links

• [REDACTED] The dictionary definition of phronesis at Wiktionary

• Aristotelianism
• Concepts in ancient Greek ethics
• Intelligence
• Philosophy of Aristotle
• Virtue