Beyond and behind phronesis, tact, and discretion

Kåre Fuglseth

pp. 257-272

in: Malte Brinkmann, Marc F. Bück, Sévérin S. Rödel (eds), Pädagogik - Phänomenologie, Berlin, Springer, 2017

Abstract

The aim of this article is to demonstrate how constitutive phenomenological studies can take action theories steps ahead by going behind and beyond basic ideas on teachers' judgments. From a phenomenological point of view the Aristotelian notion of "practical knowledge", giving the virtue of phronesis, only tells half the story, and can at best be a starting point for further theorising. A similar objection may also be directed to similar theories evolving around related phenomenona like "tact" and "discretion". This is not only a pedagogical problem, but is part of a larger area of international research that tries to understand how knowledge is established in professional practice of any kind. The article follows some of the main arguments of this discussion into the realm of a phenomenological-pedagogical based analysis of actions and judgements. In particular, I"ll investigate the claim that phronesis for teachers qua teachers is best explained as a balancing between dimensions and their values on different levels. I suggest to expand this theory to a whole theory of relevance of teacher actions. In teacher education one may foster the understanding of the balance by working with both indirect and direct relevant theories for the actual teaching.

Cited authors

Aristoteles