Abstract

φρόνησις is an ancient Greek word which was defined firstly by Aristotle as a philosophical term meaning “Practical Wisdom”. In the context of globalization, two basic elements of practical wisdom are especially worth our emphasis. One is that practice is prior to theory, which means that practical wisdom takes solving practical problems as the starting point, making practice the ends but theory the means, characteristically integrating various theories, and the maximization of real goods as the evaluation criteria. The other is that all participants of practice have autonomy, which means that since practitioners have practical wisdom and they cooperatively act for the purpose of their own benefit, they all should have their say in collective actions. Only through practical wisdom, not theoretical wisdom, can practical problems be solved. Contemporary China particularly needs practical wisdom, because we once made a perfect fetish of Marxist theoretical wisdom, which resulted in failure in the nation’s development and in people’s lives. It was a bitter lesson. At the same time, practical wisdom is needed at the global level, because Western hegemonism is trying to remodel the world according to the myth of theoretical Liberalism, which is the greatest cause of much international unrest.