Smoothing It: Some Aristotelian misgivings about the phronesis-praxis perspective on education

A kind of 'neo-Aristotelianism' that connects educational reasoning and reflection to phronesis, and education itself to praxis, has gained considerable following in recent educational discourse. The author identifies four cardinal claims of this phronesis-praxis perspective: that a) Arist...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Educational philosophy and theory 2005-08, Vol.37 (4), p.455-473
Main Author: Kristjansson, Kristjan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
anti-theory
Aristotle
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Aristotle, 384-322 B.C
Education
Educational philosophy
Educational theories
Educational theory
Epistemology
Ethics
Knowledge (Theory)
Methodology
Methods
moral particularism
Philosophy
Phronesis
Practice
Role of education
Teaching
teaching as praxis
Theory of education
Theory practice relationship
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Summary:A kind of 'neo-Aristotelianism' that connects educational reasoning and reflection to phronesis, and education itself to praxis, has gained considerable following in recent educational discourse. The author identifies four cardinal claims of this phronesis-praxis perspective: that a) Aristotle's epistemology and methodology imply a stance that is essentially, with regard to practical philosophy, anti-method and anti-theory; b) 'producing', under the rubric of techné, as opposed to 'acting' under the rubric of phronesis, is an unproblematically codifiable process; c) phronesis must be given a particularist interpretation; and d) teaching is best understood as praxis in the Aristotelian sense, guided by phronesis. The author argues that these claims have insufficient grounding in Aristotle's own writings, and that none of them stands up to scrutiny.
ISSN:0013-1857
1469-5812
DOI:10.1111/j.1469-5812.2005.00135.x