Phronesis as founder virtue in Aristotle ethics

One of the main problems of ethics from past to present is the question that how we could perform the true act. Attempts of philosophers to find an answer to this question make up a huge corpus. Given the history of moral philosophy, it could be seen that the so-called question which occurs repeatedly in every period is stil alive. An answer too is possible through an inexhaustible and ageless concept, phronesis. This work, centering on Aristotle ?and also considering before and after him- who basically used the term of phronesis in his ethical investigations inquires the possibility of how one could deal with this ancient problemIn the light of this search, in chapter one the term phronesis is tried to be analyzed and understood as ?the virtue of applying general principles to particular cases? once MacIntyre pithily said. It is Aristotle?s works which actualizes the phronesis in the realm of morals. In Pre-Aristotelian term however, that the concept of phronesis was not as Aristotle used it does not mean that there had not been any approach as to how one acts in particular cases. Therefore, in the first chapter it is examined what the other virtue(s) is/are which could carry out the functions of phronesis and in so doing courage and moderation virtues were met. Consequently, in the first chapter that how these virtues play a crucial role in human life and become central virtues are explored.In the second chapter it is inquired that how Aristotle who in his moral investigations raised phronesis to a determinative level formed it. As an intellectual virtue phronesis is both related to other intellectual virtues and obliged to determinate that when, in which conditions and how and in which way character virtues appear. Particularly this role in the context of character virtues allows us to consider it as the constitutive element of Aristotle?s ethics. In addition it could be seen central for three reasons as follows: a)It is a virtue of decision making; b)It is a virtue guides the action in field of activity where certainty is absent; c)It is a moral criterion.Phronesis existed thereafter. It is conveyed to Latin as `prudentia? and to English as `prudence? and has maintained its significance in discussions of philosophy of morals. Therefore its course to the present, how it is determined by Cicero, St. Thomas, A. Smith, etc. and how it has reached today are strived to carry out in this work. On the other hand phronesis today carries its value as a concept with which is felt compelled to be reckoned by L.Zagzebski under the name of New-Aristotelianism or virtue ethics and H.G.Gadamer in Hermeneutics. In this work these philosophers are also considered.