Practical Wisdom

I was interested in particular by what Aristotle says about practical wisdom.  This intellectual virtue, concerned with finding the truth, is specifically related to action: “where living well as a whole is concerned, the person capable of deliberation will also be practically wise” (1140a).  Practical wisdom is talent in making decisions related to the whole of life (as opposed to skill, which relates to producing some specific thing).  Practical wisdom is also distinguished from scientific knowledge because it has the option of doing things differently, where scientific knowledge sees what is absolutely the way it is.

“It remains therefore that it is a true and practical state involving reason, concerned with what is good and bad for a human being” (1140b).  Practical wisdom, then, is concerned with actions–where the practical part comes in–and also with truth.  How exactly is it more true to do one thing than to do another?  I think it’s about doing what is good: no one deliberately does what is bad for himself, so then he would be deceived if he did something bad for himself and thus needs truth.  The reason, capacity for deliberation, with which we consider our actions engages with practical wisdom in order to help us determine what is best.

Practical wisdom is also the same thing as political science, since both things are concerned with what is best for humans–just practical wisdom relates to the individual more, where political science is connected to the community.

Since practical wisdom “is concerned also with particular facts, and particulars come to be known from experience” (1142a), this type of virtue can only be attained over time and through experiencing different life situations, which is why a young person cannot have it.  It would also seem to imply that it cannot be taught, or at least a component of it must be acquired through life instead of through teaching, again blurring the lines between how moral and intellectual virtue is attained.