Abstract

Aristotle not only develops for the first time practical philosophy as a independient discipline, but also points out the specific methological problems and bounds of such a discipline, insolar its target is not merely theoretical, but also practical. Such problems are connected basically with the impossibility of reaching the particular as the specific object of action on the level of theoretical reflection. The correa application of universal norms to the particular circumstances of action remains therefore a task to be solved by the personal agent. Phronesis or "prudence" is the faculty that allows to cope with this task adequately, Le. in accordance with the normative standards of virtue