phronesis

''Phronesis'' ( grc, φρόνησῐς, phrónēsis), translated into English by terms such as prudence, practical virtue and practical wisdom, or, colloquially, sense (as in "good sense", "horse sense") is an ancient Greek word for a type of wisdom or intelligence relevant to practical action. It implies both good judgment and excellence of character and habits, and was a common topic of discussion in ancient Greek philosophy, in ways that are still influential today.

In Aristotelian ethics, for example in the ''Nicomachean Ethics'', the concept is distinguished from other words for wisdom and intellectual virtues – such as ''episteme'' and ''techne'' – because of its practical character. The traditional Latin translation was , the source of the English word "prudence". Among other proposals, Thomas McEvilley has proposed that the best translation is "mindfulness".

Ancient Greek philosophy

Plato

In some of Plato's dialogues, Socrates proposes that ''phronēsis'' is a necessary condition for all virtue. Being good, is to be an intelligent or reasonable person with intelligent and reasonable thoughts. ''Phronēsis'' allows a person to have moral or ethical strength.

In Plato's ''Meno'', Socrates explains how ''phronēsis'', a quality synonymous with ''moral understanding'', is the most important attribute to learn, although it cannot be taught and is instead gained through the development of the understanding of one's own self.

Aristotle

In the 6th book of his ''Nicomachean Ethics'', Plato's student and friend Aristotle famously distinguished between two intellectual virtues: '' sophia'' (wisdom) and ''phronesis'', and described the relationship between them and other intellectual virtues. ''Sophia'' is a combination of ''nous'', the ability to discern reality, and ''epistēmē'', which is concerned with things which "could not be otherwise... e.g., the necessary truths of mathematics" and is logically built up and teachable. This involves reasoning concerning universal truths. ''Phronesis'' involves not only the ability to decide how to achieve a certain end, but also the ability to reflect upon and determine good ends consistent with the aim of living well overall.

Aristotle points out that although ''sophia'' is higher and more serious than ''phronesis'', the highest pursuit of wisdom and happiness requires both, because ''phronesis'' facilitates ''sophia''. He also associates ''phronesis'' with political ability.

According to Aristotle's theory of rhetoric, ''phronesis'' is one of the three types of appeal to character (''ethos''). The other two are respectively appeals to ''arete'' (virtue) and '' eunoia'' ( goodwill).

Gaining ''phronesis'' requires experience, according to Aristotle who wrote that:

...although the young may be experts in geometry and mathematics and similar branches of knowledge 'sophoi'' we do not consider that a young man can have Prudence 'phronimos'' The reason is that Prudence 'phronesis''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.

''Phronesis'' is concerned with particulars, because it is concerned with how to act in particular situations. One can learn the principles of action, but applying them in the real world, in situations one could not have foreseen, requires experience of the world. For example, if one knows that one should be honest, one might act in certain situations in ways that cause pain and offense; knowing how to apply honesty in balance with other considerations and in specific contexts requires experience.

Aristotle holds that having ''phronesis'' is both necessary and sufficient for being virtuous; because ''phronesis'' is practical, it is impossible to be both ''phronetic'' and akratic; i.e., prudent persons cannot act against their "better judgement".

Pyrrhonism

Pyrrhonism denies that the existence and value of ''phronesis'' has been demonstrated. The Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus explained the problem of ''phronesis'' as follows:

Thus, insofar as it is up to his phronesis, the wise man does not acquire self-control, or if he does, he is the most unfortunate of all, so that the art of living has
brought him no benefit but the greatest perturbation. And we have shown
previously that the person who supposes that he possesses the art of living and
that through it he can recognize which things are good by nature and which evil, is
very much perturbed both when he has good things and when evil. It must be
said, then, that if the existence of things good, bad, and indifferent is not agreed
upon, and perhaps the art of life, too, is nonexistent, and that even if it should
provisionally be granted to exist, it will provide no benefit to those possessing it,
but on the contrary will cause them very great perturbations, the Dogmatists
would seem to be idly pretentious in what is termed the "ethics" part of their so-called "philosophy".

Modern philosophy

Heidegger

In light of his fundamental ontology, Martin Heidegger interprets Aristotle in such a way that ''phronesis'' (and practical philosophy as such) is the original form of knowledge and thus primary to ''sophia'' (and theoretical philosophy).

Heidegger interprets the ''Nicomachean Ethics'' as an ontology of Human Existence. The practical philosophy of Aristotle is a guiding thread in his Analysis of Existence according to which "facticity" names our unique mode of being-in-the-world. Through his "existential analytic", Heidegger recognises that "Aristotelian phenomenology" suggests three fundamental movements of life including '' póiesis'', ''práxis'', ''theoría'', and that these have three corresponding dispositions: '' téchne'', ''phrónesis'' and '' sophía''. Heidegger considers these as modalities of Being inherent in the structure of '' Dasein'' as being-in-the-world that is situated within the context of concern and care. According to Heidegger phronesis in Aristotle's work discloses the right and proper way to ''Dasein''. Heidegger sees phronesis as a mode of comportment in and toward the world, a way of orienting oneself and thus of caring-seeing-knowing and enabling a particular way of being concerned.

While ''techne'' is a way of being concerned with things and principles of production and theoria a way of being concerned with eternal principles, phronesis is a way of being concerned with one's life (qua action) and with the lives of others and all particular circumstances as purview of praxis. Phronesis is a disposition or habit, which reveals the being of the action while deliberation is the mode of bringing about the disclosive appropriation of that action. In other words, deliberation is the way in which the phronetic nature of ''Dasein’s'' insight is made manifest.

Phronesis is a form of circumspection, connected to conscience and resoluteness respectively being-resolved in action of human existence ('' Dasein'') as '' práxis''. As such it discloses the concrete possibilities of being in a situation, as the starting point of meaningful action, processed with resolution, while facing the contingencies of life.
However Heidegger's ontologisation has been criticised as closing ''práxis'' within a horizon of solipsistic decision that deforms its political sense that is its practico-political configuration (Volpi, 2007).

Other Uses in Psychology

Phronesis according to Kristjansson, Fowers, Darnell and Pollard phronesis is about making decisions in regards to moral events or circumstances. There is recent work to bring back 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 by inculcating the practical know-how to translate virtue in thought into concrete successful action and this will produce phronimos by being able to weigh up the most integral parts of various virtues and competing goals in moral situations. Moral virtues helps any person to achieve the end, phronesis, is what it takes to figure out the right means to gain that end. Without moral virtues, phronesis degenerates into a inability to make those practical actions in regards to committing to those ends that are genuine goods for man and without phronesis we may be lost in regards to exercising decisive judgment on any moral matter. The concept of phronesis includes the telos that is the "well-being for all in society." The common wisdom model was developed by Grossmann, Weststrate, Ardelt et al as explaining the foundation for making moral functioning to occur and by strategy for fitting it to the context of the situation at hand, using major scholars research on the idea that wisdom is best described as morally-grounded excellence in social-cognitive processing, by empirical wisdom scientists. Moral grounding is what the researchers found that the following is the moral basis: "balance of self-interests and other interests, pursuit of truth (as opposed to dishonesty), and orientation toward shared humanity". And secondly it means excellence in social cognitive processing: "context adaptability (e.g. practical or pragmatic reasoning, optimization of behavior towards achieving certain outcomes),
perspectivism (e.g. considering diverse perspectives, foresight and long-term thinking), dialectical and reflective thinking (e.g. balancing and integrating points of view, entertaining opposites) and epistemic modesty (e.g. unbiased/accurate thinking, looking through illusions, understanding your own limitations)."

In the social sciences

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

The psychologist Heiner Rindermann uses in his book ''Cognitive Capitalism'' the term ''phronesis'' for describing a rational approach of thinking and action: "a circumspect and thoughtful way of life in a rational manner" (p. 188). Intelligence is supporting such a "burgher" lifestyle.

See also

* Casuistry
* Common sense
* '' Dianoia''
* '' Doctrine of the Mean''
* Élan vital
* Rhetorical reason

References

Sources and further reading

* Aristotle, ''Nicomachean Ethics'' trans. Terence Irwin (2nd edition; Hackett, 1999)
* Robert Bernasconi, “Heidegger’s Destruction of Phronesis,” ''Southern Journal of Philosophy'' 28 supp. (1989): 127–147.
* Clifford Geertz
Empowering_Aristotle "Empowering Aristotle"
''Science'', vol. 293, July 6, 2001, p. 53.
* Martin Heidegger, ''Plato's Sophist'' (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997).
* Gerard J. Hughes, ''Aristotle on Ethics'' (Routledge, 2001)
* Alasdair MacIntyre, ''After Virtue'' (Duckworth, 1985)
* William McNeill, ''The Glance of the Eye: Heidegger, Aristotle, and the Ends of Theory'' (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999).
* Ikujiro Nonaka, ''Managing Flow: A Process Theory of the Knowledge-Based Firm'' (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2008).
* Amélie Oksenberg Rorty d. ''Essays on Aristotle's Ethics'' (University of California Press, 1980)
* Richard Sorabji, "Aristotle on the Role of Intellect in Virtue" (''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'' 74, 1973–1974; pp. 107–129. Reprinted in Rorty)
* David Wiggins, "Deliberation and Practical Reason" (''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'' 76, 1975–1976; pp. 29–51. Reprinted in Rorty)
* Roberto Andorno
"Do our moral judgements need to be guided by principles?"
''Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics'' 2012, 21(4):457–465.

External links

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Ancient Greek ethics
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Concepts in ancient Greek ethics
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