Practical Wisdom (Phronesis)

Definition

Practical wisdom (phronesis in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics) is the form of judgment concerned with how to act rightly in concrete, particular situations — distinct from theoretical wisdom (sophia) and from technical skill (techne). Unlike techne, which applies general rules to produce a product, phronesis deliberates about particulars that cannot be fully codified. Gadamer recovers phronesis as a model for the human sciences and for interpretation generally: understanding, like moral judgment, is a situated, self-involving practice rather than a method. For architecture, practical wisdom names the situated judgment of the practitioner — the "theory arising from practice" that Kidder says gives Gadamer's thought "remarkable usefulness in everyday professional work." Aristotelian thought, Kidder notes, "can help make sense of the collaborative work of today's practitioners."

Key Thinkers

• Aristotle — distinguished phronesis from sophia and techne in the Nicomachean Ethics.
• Hans-Georg Gadamer — phronesis as the model for hermeneutic understanding and practical judgment.
• Paul Kidder — practical wisdom and the situated judgment of architectural practice.
• Catharine E. Beecher — the domestic phronesis: "To be 'wise,' is 'to choose the best means for accomplishing the best end'" (Beecher & Stowe, p. 43) — the Aristotelian definition rendered as house-planning wisdom, exercised by the woman who "buildeth her house."

Related Concepts

• Hermeneutics — phronesis is the kind of knowing hermeneutics valorizes over method.
• Interpretation — an exercise of practical wisdom applied to meaning.
• Truth and Method — phronesis exemplifies truth beyond method.

Source Support

Sources in the wiki that discuss this concept:

• Gadamer for Architects — practical wisdom and theory arising from practice.
• A Christian House (Beecher & Stowe 1869/2006) — the domestic register of phronesis: "To be 'wise,' is 'to choose the best means for accomplishing the best end'" (p. 43) — wisdom as means–end selection in particulars, applied to the planning of the house; the scriptural seal ("The wise woman buildeth her house") places the phronimos in the home, the first claim that house-planning is a practical wisdom rather than a techne of decoration. See domestic-economy.