Abstract

The so called “revival of practical philosophy”, started in 1960 by H.G. Gadamer with his Wahrheit und Methode e metodo”, has often provoked a confusion between the authentic prac-tical philosophy of Aristotle and the virtue he calls phronêsis or wisdom. Actually, they repre-sent two forms of knowledge very different. Wisdom is the virtue of practical reason which consists in the ability of correctly deliberate, that is in the ability of individuating the action more suitable for realizing a good end. On the contrary, practical philosophy is a science, that is an habit of theoretical reason, even if it is a practical science, which has as its end in the good action and has a degree of rigour inferior to that of theoretical sciences. Practical philosophy is the science of the supreme good for man, that is happiness – the full flourishing of all human capabilities-, which is determined by means of a dialectical discussion with the thesis of the various philosophers