Single Idea 5249

[catalogued under 20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / a. Practical reason]

Full Idea

One cannot be prudent (have practical reason) without being good.

Gist of Idea

One cannot be prudent without being good

Source

Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1144a33)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.223


A Reaction

I suspect that for Aristotle this is more of a tautology than an observation. We might think of a very clever criminal as having 'phronesis' (practical reason), but Aristotle simply wouldn't, though he has no simple explanation for his view.