Towards an empirically informed account of 'phronesis' in medicine

Hendrik Kotzee, Alexis Paton, Mervyn Conroy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)
374 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In the field of medical virtue ethics, the concept of phronesis, or practical wisdom, plays a crucial role. In recent years a number of important theoretical questions have been identified in this regard: (1) is phronesis more akin to thinking or theorizing, or to feeling and intuiting? (2) can phronesis be communicated and explained, or is it individual and personal? and (3) is phronesis needed in all decision-making in medicine, or only in the making of decisions that are ethically fraught? In this paper we argue that, while these questions have received attention on the theoretical level, empirical investigation has the potential to shed light on these questions from the perspective of medical practice in the real world. Indeed, because virtue ethics insists that virtuous action can only be understood properly in the context of real decisions (and not in the abstract), there are good grounds for thinking that understanding phronesis must involve attention to real-world particulars. Empirical investigation, involving in-depth narrative interviewing and analysis, has the potential to shed light on these theoretical questions relating to phronesis.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)337-350
Number of pages14
JournalPerspectives in Biology and Medicine
Volume59
Issue number3
Early online date3 May 2017
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 3 May 2017

Bibliographical note

Launched on MUSE: 2017-05-03

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