Phronēsis in Aristotle: Reconciling Deliberation with Spontaneity

Abstract

A standard thesis of contemporary Aristotelian virtue ethics and some recent Heideggerian scholarship is that virtuous behavior can be performed immediately and spontaneously without engaging conscious processes of deliberative thought. It is also claimed that phronēsis either enables or is consistent with this possibility. In the Nicomachean Ethics, however, Aristotle identifies phronēsis as the excellence of the calculative part of the intellect, claims that calculation and deliberation are the same and that it is the mark of the phronimos to be able to deliberate well. He also insists that for an action to count as virtuous it must issue from rational choice, which he characterizes as determined by deliberation. It thus seems that any exegetically respectable attempt to explain virtuous action within an Aristotelian framework would need to integrate with some account of deliberative choice. This creates a tension in Aristotelian scholarship. In this paper, I shall formalize this tension in terms of an apparently inconsistent triad of claims and shall examine the merits of at least one prominent interpretation of phronēsis with respect to its reconciliation.

Virtue, Environmental Ethics, Nonhuman Values, and Anthropocentrism

“…Indeed, the exercise of virtue is traditionally thought to require a special, reasoned appreciation of what matters most in particular circumstances considering what matters most in general. Such appreciation is known from ancient thought as phronesis, which is typically translated as "practical wisdom" and often conceived of as something of a metavirtue, activating and guiding the exercise of the other virtues [20,21]. The practically wise virtuous agent knows what matters to a good life and what does not (or less), and they are thus able to read some features of given situations as more salient than others and conduct themselves accordingly (see, among others, [22]).…”

prudencia en Aristóteles: el centro de su Ética

“…La phronesis, un concepto profundamente arraigado en la filosofía aristotélica es una forma de sabiduría práctica que guía a las personas a tomar decisiones moralmente sólidas y a tomar acciones apropiadas en situaciones específicas (Conroy et al, 2021). Se Artes 2023, 1(3), 95-106 considera una virtud intelectual que implica la capacidad de deliberar bien y tomar decisiones que conduzcan a acciones virtuosas y éticas (Finnigan, 2014). La phronesis no solo es crucial en la toma de decisiones individuales, sino que también juega un papel importante en prácticas profesionales como la enfermería (Jenkins et al, 2018), la ética empresarial (Kristjánsson, 2021) y la contabilidad (Howieson, 2018).…”

Professional Knowledges for Early Childhood Education and Care

“…Phronesis is more difficult to articulate and is a debated term (Breier & Ralphs, 2009;Finnigan, 2015;Russell, 2014). Broadly, phronesis represents the practical "spur of the moment" actions that are embedded in understanding the other, incorporating both the individual and the universal (Gade, 2014).…”

“…Phronesis is not a question of responding to a child, but of how to respond to a child, in relation to both the individual and universal child, such as with empathy, sensitivity, and warmth. Phronesis is acquired through experience and is deliberative, but a lack of articulation of its deliberations does not mean it is absent (Finnigan, 2015).…”