Sophia and Phronesis: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

Before asking whether sophia and phronesis can be brought together, it is necessary to consider their individual natures. Their meanings have changed over time and Aristotle seems to have been the first to try to establish a clear and technical distinction between them. In contemporary terms, the distinction might be presented in terms of how phronesis and sophia develop in the individual, one by acquisition, the other by transformation. However, if acquisition and transformation could be seen as two sides of the same coin, perhaps the same can be said of sophia and phronesis?