Practical Wisdom (Phronesis):

 

Learn what skill you need for the task.

 

Let us review the main questions philosophy must answer:

   Who am I?

   What is my place in the Universe?

   How do I maintain that place?

 

These must be answered with a metanarrative that is coherent with our currently accepted narratives. The most dominant of the competing views may be considered, in a general way, science. But even science is a floundering metanarrative if we think of human flourishing or eudaimonia as the goal. Pure science does not answer the why questions of ethics and morality. We need a metanarrative that cooperates with science, or at least the scientific method, for our metanarrative to be coherent. That is, it must be coherent with what is verifiable using a correspondence theory of truth. It must do both of these by using a pragmatic approach that recognizes that we reach warranted assertions rather than permanent facts.

 

Then you need phronesis or “practical wisdom” in order to make this metanarrative give you a set of guidelines to help us develop the kind of personal character that is ready to respond to the demands of events in ways that help us toward the goals of human flourishing.