THEO1088 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Ancient Greece, Nicomachean Ethics, Intellectual Virtue
Document Summary
Prudence: as a virtue both intellectual and moral (cid:498)practical wisdom(cid:499, *being able to figure out the mean, essential for human flourishing. Ability to think well about specific practices. (thinking, but need to desire and actually do it: the intellectual virtue that correctly answers the question: Calculates in the broadest possible scheme encompassing other virtues and time: practical wisdom = reasoned and true state. Do not have prudence if you are figuring out to do something bad in the best way. Ex: clever thief is not a good thief. Prudence = how to attain the ends that are themselves the good ends: correct general principle (prudence) proper specific action. Every state (polis) is a community of some kind and every community is established with a view of some good. State: umbrella for all other communities within it. State = largest functional body that can facilitate happiness: *even individual moral virtues are involved socially.
