QUELQUES ASPECTS DE L’HISTOIRE CULTURELLE DE LA SAGESSE PRATIQUE
QUELQUES ASPECTS DE L’HISTOIRE CULTURELLE DE LA SAGESSE PRATIQUE

Summary/Abstract: The origins of the concept of the prudence or practical knowledge can be traced back to the Platonic and Aristotelian notion of phronèsis. In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotel posit phronèsis in order to account for the practical wisdom and justaposes it against scientific and craft knowledge. Phronèsis has been translated and interpreted with a number of different concepts like practical reasoning, practical knowledge, moral discernement, moral insight, and prudence. Contemporary commentators on Aristotle (Heidegger, Gadamer, Aubenque et al.) are speculated on the subject and are examples for one of the many movements wich have at their core a critique of modern ethics. Some interpreters of Aristotle’s intellectual virtues leave doubt as to wheter phronèsis and technè are distinct categories, but is clairthat phronèsis is about value judgement, not about producing things. In the 20th century and today, phronèsis was able to be portayed as a practical wisdom because it is an intellectual virtue that may ensure the ethical employment of science and technology.

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