CHAPTER EIGHT

Fund. Ethics.
WISDOM

Fund. Ethics.
Fund. Ethics.
 … Introduction…
• Practical wisdom is a habit orienting reason
towards the good
• In this chapter we examine the reason for the
primacy of wisdom,
• Its operations
• Its presuppositions and
• Opposing vices.

Fund. Ethics.
 8.1. TERMINOLOGY

• Practical wisdom
• Aristotle – Phronesis
• Latin – prudentia – translated as prudence
• Prudence – has suffered many alterations –
caution, circumspection – the propensity to avoid
risks
• True prudence cannot be excessive
• We prefer to use the term practical wisdom.

Fund. Ethics.
 ….Kant…
• fell prey to serious equivocation concerning prudence.
• He defined it as “the maxim of self-love” and confused
it with that ability or dexterity of the reason to find
ways of reaching the ends we desire.
• From this perspective, we could call “prudent” the
behavior of a very clever thief who pulls off a job
without getting caught
• Although such ability can improve a person’s
performance in a particular area, it does not improve
him as a man; it rather demeans him.

Fund. Ethics.
 …Practical wisdom…

…is the virtue that guides our

choices, orienting them toward the
full realization of a meaningful life.

Fund. Ethics.
 8.2. PRIMACY OF WISDOM
• The end of our life is to be truly human
• This implies reason twice: at the level of being and
at the level of knowing.
• The level of being: it constitutes the special
characteristic of the animal-man
• Therefore, human good consists in living according
to reason
• At the level of knowing, reason allows us access to
truth especially the truth of the human being.

Fund. Ethics.
…therefore…

• The good of man as man is: that reason

be perfect in the knowledge of the
truth, and the inferior desires be
regulated according to the rule of
reason; in fact, the essential
characteristic in force of which man is
man, consists precisely in his being
rational

Fund. Ethics.
 …the above statement says two things …
• First, for the good of man, human
reason must perfect itself in the
knowledge of truth;
• second, reason thus perfected must
be the rule of the lower desires.

Fund. Ethics.
1. Reason must perfect itself in the knowledge of the
truth

• Reason is the specifically human regard on

reality;
• it is an openness to reality. And truth reveals
reality.
• The necessary premise of every morally good
action is the truth.

Fund. Ethics.
• How can someone be “just,” for example, if he
rejects the truth?
• It is only in virtue of a true right that we can render
true justice
• Untrue justice is false justice, that is, injustice.
• The wise person is the one who conforms his mind
to objective reality.

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2. Reason, improved by the knowledge of the truth, must
become the form and intimate rule of the desires.

• Other virtues are such because of the virtue of practical

wisdom
• For this reason practical wisdom is called “the form of the
virtues” (forma virtutum).
• Virtue in general, as well as every single virtue, is a perfection
of man as a rational being.
• An action becomes just, courageous, or temperate only in
view of the fundamental resolve of wisdom.
• Wisdom gives form to the other virtues by conferring on
them that “measure” without which virtue is unthinkable.

Fund. Ethics.
8.3. THE OPERATIONS OF WISDOM

• Wisdom is primary because knowledge comes

before action
• Its task is that of finding he just mean in moral
virtues
• When something attracts us, presenting itself to our
reason as an end in itself, wisdom enters into play
concerning the means necessary to obtain it
(deliberation),
• as well as the most suitable means presently
available (practical judgment concerning means).

Fund. Ethics.
• Practical wisdom’s principal act, then, is commanding
the effective use of these means.
• Hence, deliberation prepares judgment, and judgment
leads to action.
• Whoever judges rightly but then does not act is not
really wise.
• The truly wise person is the one who puts what is
right and appropriate into effect.
• Wisdom reveals herself in the command of the
practical reason that tells us, “This is good. This must
be done here and now.”

Fund. Ethics.
• Wisdom shows us the means that we should desire
and use
• Some ends are merely means ordered to greater
ends
• There are some ends that are desirable in themselves
– virtuous goods
• The end belongs to the moral virtues because they
tend to the end pre-established by the natural
reason.
• wisdom does not have its “own” matter, but is
applied to the matter of the other moral virtues that
are regulated and measured by it.

Fund. Ethics.
8.4. WISDOM’S PRESUPPOSITIONS AND
THEIR OPPOSITES

• Wisdom has, an essentially cognitive yet

immediately practical dimension in regard to the
concrete realization of a possible good
• To exercise these two dimensions, wisdom
requires certain dispositions which can be
understood in contrast to their opposites.

Fund. Ethics.
 8.4.1. Wisdom as a Cognitive Virtue

• Reflection - silence, a patient questioning of the reality

involved, and an acceptance of the effort required,
• recklessness, a contrary disposition - the thoughtless attitude
of someone who rushes headlong into action,
• irresoluteness, a very neglected form of imprudence that
consists in prolonging indefinitely the estimation of problems
and putting off their solutions, resulting in overdue and,
consequently, fruitless decisions
• solertia. This activity implies a capacity for “clear
headedness” in front of unforeseen events that can happen
without warning.

Fund. Ethics.
• Objective concrete knowledge must be the norm of every
action
• Experience is important – those with experience are more
practical than others who know.
• Wisdom requires knowledge that is accumulated over time
• However, expertise is also necessary to conserve the
memory of past experiences
• Vigilance over one’s own memories is an indispensable
premise to becoming wise
• A habitual examination of conscience is necessary to
ensure this fidelity.

Fund. Ethics.
• No one can presume to be self-sufficient in acquiring
wisdom
• In matters of prudence, man stands in very great need of
being taught by others
• Experience gives an insight into principles
• Whoever wishes to become wise must begin by showing
some proof of being wise!
• This is to say that a person must let himself be taught.
• He must renounce self-conceit (the presumption of already
knowing everything) and cultivate the virtue of docility –
an integral part of the very wisdom he is seeking.

Fund. Ethics.
 8.4.2. Wisdom as a Commanding Virtue

• The cognitive dimension of practical wisdom

regards the past and the present as already being
real.
• Its imperative dimension, looks to the future, that
is, to the “not-yet-existing” from the point of view
of “having-to-be-realized.”
• what an elder sees sitting down a young man
cannot see even if he climbs on the tallest of trees
• Wisdom consists essentially in farsightedness

Fund. Ethics.
 …thus…

• it is the chief part of prudence, to which two other

parts are directed – namely,
remembrance of the past, and
understanding of the present;
inasmuch as from the remembrance of what is past
and the understanding of what is present, we gather
how to provide for the future.

Fund. Ethics.
• The farsighted person is capable of predisposing
suitable actions for the attainment of specific ends.
• Farsightedness regards concrete, contingent, future
objects around which we can never have absolute
certainty.
• The type of certitude required by practical wisdom
is moral certainty.

Fund. Ethics.
• In some cases, this certainty can be
total (as happens primarily in cases
where we know what we should not do:
kill, steal, etc.). In other cases (which
happen to be more numerous), we
must be content with only relative
probability.

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 …defects…
• Im-prudence and in-decision are defects that
oppose the virtue of wisdom
• It is also opposed to excesses
• Hence, there can be a pseudo-wisdom that
consists in cleverly seeking means for the
attainment of dishonest ends.
• There also exists a pseudo-wisdom that pretends
to be obtaining a good end, but with bad means
(Machiavellian ethics).

Fund. Ethics.
 …Conclusion…

• wisdom requires the experience, memory,

and chastity of the older person, as well as “a
youthful spirit of brave trust and, as it were,
a reckless tossing away of anxious self-
preservation.” Wisdom, then, requires the
virtue of courage.

Fund. Ethics.
Fund. Ethics.