My research focuses on the concept of practical wisdom (phronesis). This concept is today discussed in various fields of philosophy, such as virtue ethics, political philosophy and the philosophy of economics. In particular, my project analyzes how the philosophers Martha Nussbaum and Paul Ricoeur reinterpreted this Aristotelian concept, in order to address current ethical and political questions.
My focus is mainly on the epistemological aspects of their theoretical framework. These approaches deny the possibility of finding a moral standard that is appropriate to every situation. Practical wisdom is understood as a form of situational knowledge, which enables the virtuous agent to find the best solution for the specific case he is facing. This way of responding to the philosophical challenge of the foundation of ethics requires a special attention from an epistemological point of view, in particular to avoid the risk of falling into a relativist position.
The importance of an epistemological inquiry is even greater concerning the contemporary applications of this concept, because it is difficult today to defend some form of teleological naturalism, such as the original Aristotelian one. The choice to analyze the perspectives of Nussbaum and Ricoeur is determined by the fact that these two authors have tried, in different ways, to directly face this difficulty. In fact, they have sought possible alternative sources for practical truth, which take into consideration both what Ricoeur calls a “claim to universality” and the awareness of the culturally and historically determined character of our access to truth.