Philosophike Martyria. Aristotle, Gadamer and the relevance of practical-ethical knowledge in a multicultural society

Abstract

Of what relevance is practical-ethical knowledge (phronesis) in a multicultural or plural society? This question will be addressed, in the first place, by revisiting the Aristotelian concept of phronesis. What is important here is the emphasis on practical wisdom and the mediation between the universal and particular. In his problematisation of a pure and universal understanding of knowledge, Aristotle distinguishes between practical-ethical knowledge (phronesis), scientific knowledge (epistemé)and technical knowledge (techné). In the second part of the paper it will be argued that Gadamer's hermeneutical criticism of an over-rationalised and technologised world gives an imaginative and creative twentieth century reading of phronesis. In the third and final part the issue of practical-ethical knowledge will be further examined by looking at the implications of Lyotard's arguments for a multicultural society. The thesis, briefly formulated, is that Aristotle's idea of phronesis; Gadamer's idea of hermeneutics; and the postmodern critique of universale are all valuable suggestions in a fragmented world, on the one hand, but they need to be challenged by some form of discourse ethics in order to discuss and evaluate differences and particular societal perspectives of knowledge and values, at the end of the twentieth century.