Aristotle on
practical wisdom
Michael Lacewing
enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk
What is practical wisdom?
• Practical wisdom (phronesis) is an
intellectual virtue of practical reasoning
– Theoretical reason investigates what we can’t
change and aims at the truth.
– Practical reason investigates what we can change
and aims at making good choices.
– Reasoning about what we can change is
deliberation, so practical reason is expressed in
deliberation.
What is practical wisdom?
• To make good choices, not only must our
reasoning be correct, but we must also have
the right desires
• Practical wisdom is ‘a true and reasoned
state or capacity to act with regard to the
things that are good or bad for man’
– It is not merely theoretical knowledge of what is
good or bad, but also the capacity to act on such
knowledge.
Features of practical wisdom
• a general conception of what is good or bad,
related to the conditions for human
flourishing;
• the ability to perceive, in light of that
general conception, what is required in
terms of feeling, choice, and action in a
particular situation;
• the ability to deliberate well; and
• the ability to act on that deliberation.
Failures of deliberation
• We can deliberate with the wrong end: wrong
starting point  wrong choice.
– Our general knowledge of the good is faulty.
• We don’t understand the right means to the end
– If we achieve the right end, this is accidental or lucky
– Either our knowledge of the particular circumstances or our
reasoning is faulty.
• We can fail to deliberate when we should or take
too long.
Contextualism
• There are no rules for applying general
knowledge of the good life to an individual
situation.
– There are no true generalizations about right/wrong
– So practical wisdom is a form of intuitive reason
• But ethics is not subjective; it is ‘contextsensitive’.
• Practical wisdom cannot be taught, but must be
acquired through experience.
• As with perception, argument may not convince – you
need to ‘see’
Practical wisdom and virtue
• Virtues set our ends – we aim at the good life
– But practical wisdom is needed to choose what is
good in this situation
– The virtuous person feels and chooses ‘at the right
times, with reference to the right objects, towards
the right people, with the right motive, and in the
right way’
• Acting in accordance with virtue isn’t fully
virtuous action
– You must also know what you are doing and choose it
for its own sake
– ‘Natural’ virtue is not ‘full’ virtue
Practical wisdom and virtue
• Practical wisdom also depends on
virtue
– Good choices require the right desires
– A bad man can be very clever, but does
not make good choices