Teaching for professional phronesis
Notwithstanding the above comments, like Dunne, and like many others, I have
accepted at least by implication that there is something that identifies phronesis as
sufficiently different (or eccentric) to necessitate a separate element of inquiry. In order
to outline what teaching for professional phronesis requires it is instructive to consider
the characteristics of the professional phronimos.
The professional phronimos in nursing then is the practically wise nurse. The
professional phronimos is our ideal nurse. She or he is generally disposed to care deeply
about all things to do with providing safe and effective care in ways that enable (as far
as is possible) the flourishing of more-than-ordinarily vulnerable persons. This caring
disposition arises from the affective domain but has been harnessed in pursuit of making
a positive contribution to human flourishing. Kant warned us against allowing our
actions to be guided primarily by our altruistic emotions on the grounds that our
emotions are unstable and can lead to capricious and arbitrary action or inaction1. For
Aristotle reason is what enables us to ensure our altruistic emotions guide us towards
right actions. In contrast to the well meaning novice, the professional phronimos will
have achieved this balance. In other words, the practically wise nurse is motivated
primarily by her or his altruistic emotions to pursue the well-being of more-than-
ordinarily vulnerable persons and, crucially, knows what this requires if she or he is to
avoid the danger of which Kant warns us. Knows, that is, what she or he must Ieam to
ensure her or his actions as a nurse contribute to the flourishing of patients. On this
account, the professional phronimos knows what it is they need to know and what they
need to be able to do; knows what is they already know and what they already can do;
knows what it is they do not yet know and what they cannot yet do; knows how to go
about learning what it is they do not yet know and how to Ieam to do that which they
cannot yet do; and, perhaps most importantly, is willing to learn these things. If nursing
education aims towards enabling students to become practically wise nurses then it is an
education that needs to provide the student with the wherewithal to accomplish all these
things as embodied in the professional phronimos. If we assume that those who wish to
become nurses are motivated by their altruistic emotions then the job of the nurse
ɪ But this may only be true of those who have allowed emotion free reign over their lives although it
should be noted that there are individuals who do seem unable to learn to control their emotions. For
example, those with ‘asocial personality disorder’ (formerly psycho- or socio-paths) who exhibit a
tendency to act without any apparent sense of what constitutes morally acceptable behaviour and who
apparently feel no remorse for immoral acts. It is not clear whether the existence of people who seem
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