What do you think?
Back To the Rough Ground: "Phronesis" and "Techne" in Modern Philosophy and in Aristotle
Our society has come to think that truth lies in the area of the measurable, of empirical evidence and objective analysis, that particular mode of rationality called "technical reason", and that the knowledge of this mode is what is needed to guide humankind in all areas of practice. In this work, Joseph Dunne develops a philosophical context for exposing the limits of technical reason and for analysing the practical knowledge that informs successful activity in different domains. Dunne begins by examining the retrieval of Aristotle's distinction between phronesis/praxis and techne/poiesis in the work of John Henry Newman, R.G. Collingwood and Hannah Arendt. He then discusses the universal significance claimed for the Aristotelian distinction in the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer, and examines how the distinction is both invoked and eventually challenged in the critical theory of Jurgen Habermas. "Back to the Rough Ground" then examines the two central categories in Aristotle's own texts, emphasising the theoretical inclination of techne and the inescapably personal and experimential nature of phronesis. The book concludes by reviewing the main themes of the work - the nature of experience, practice, language and finitude, the limits of reason, and the need for a reconstruction of the whole modern philosophy of consciousness. Dunne suggests implications for different areas of study, and situates the volume within the context of current philosophical debates, especially with regard to universalism and post-modernism.
- GenresPhilosophy
512 pages, Hardcover
First published December 31, 1992
About the author
Joseph Dunne
17 books2 followersJoseph Dunne is Cregan Professor of Philosophy and Education, Emeritus, at the Institute of Education, Dublin City University. A native of Thurles, Co Tipperary, he was educated at local schools, Rockwell College, and University College Dublin, before joining the academic staff at St Patrick's College Dublin in 1970, where he taught philosophy for forty years, in the Education and Humanities Faculties, and was founding Head of Human Development, a subject devoted to interdisciplinary study of the human life-span. He taught courses in all three years of the B.Ed and the BA, and on the M.Ed, MA, and Ed.D programmes; he also supervised theses for these post-graduate degrees and for the PhD.
He has taught graduate courses at the University of Oslo (2012 and 2014), at Duke University where he was Visiting Professor (1998), and at the University of British Columbia where he was Distinguished Visiting Fellow (2013). He was a Visiting Scholar at St. Edmund's College, University of Cambridge (1981) and at the Philosophy Department, University of California at Berkeley (1998). He has been a frequent keynote speaker at conferences and symposia in North America, Britain, and Scandinavia on issues concerning practical knowledge, professional judgment, childhood, citizenship, and the fate of religion in late modernity; he has also lectured and conducted seminars in several cities in South Korea (2013) and in India (2017).
His Back to the Rough Ground: Practical Judgement and the Lure of Technique (1993, 1997, 2001, 2009) has been widely recognised as a landmark book in retrieving the philosophical significance of Aristotle’s concept of practical wisdom (phronesis) and in demonstrating its pertinence to a range of contemporary professions, including teaching. The author of many articles in international journals, he has co-edited Questioning Ireland: Debates in Political Philosophy and Public Policy (2000); Childhood and its Discontents: The First Seamus Heaney Lectures (2002) and Education and Practice: Upholding the Integrity of Teaching and Learning (2004).
He has taught graduate courses at the University of Oslo (2012 and 2014), at Duke University where he was Visiting Professor (1998), and at the University of British Columbia where he was Distinguished Visiting Fellow (2013). He was a Visiting Scholar at St. Edmund's College, University of Cambridge (1981) and at the Philosophy Department, University of California at Berkeley (1998). He has been a frequent keynote speaker at conferences and symposia in North America, Britain, and Scandinavia on issues concerning practical knowledge, professional judgment, childhood, citizenship, and the fate of religion in late modernity; he has also lectured and conducted seminars in several cities in South Korea (2013) and in India (2017).
His Back to the Rough Ground: Practical Judgement and the Lure of Technique (1993, 1997, 2001, 2009) has been widely recognised as a landmark book in retrieving the philosophical significance of Aristotle’s concept of practical wisdom (phronesis) and in demonstrating its pertinence to a range of contemporary professions, including teaching. The author of many articles in international journals, he has co-edited Questioning Ireland: Debates in Political Philosophy and Public Policy (2000); Childhood and its Discontents: The First Seamus Heaney Lectures (2002) and Education and Practice: Upholding the Integrity of Teaching and Learning (2004).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
October 6, 2018
It was a slog but worth it
Reading for background on professional development for teachers, he takes a long time to get there but makes a case for teaching as practice and the need for teachers to support one another through reflective practice.
Reading for background on professional development for teachers, he takes a long time to get there but makes a case for teaching as practice and the need for teachers to support one another through reflective practice.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review