Emergence and Nature of Aristotle's Conception of Practical Rationality

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Klaus Corcilius
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 550529500

Our project aims at a new and comprehensive philosophical interpretation of Aristotle's conception of practical rationality. Our starting point is a new interpretation of the role of principles in the context of practical deliberation. Our research hypothesis is that Aristotle, in the moral philosophy part of his practical philosophy, understands principles not as universal moral rules, but as starting points for the concrete existence of universal goals. As far as this concerns practical rationality as the faculty of practical deliberation, we think that Aristotle is primarily concerned with two things: (i) the self-conscious elicitation of suitable realisers for given universal goals in the world; and (ii) the finding of suitable means for bringing about these realisers. The basic thesis of our project thus undermines an assumption shared by virtually all parties in the controversy over the role of principles in Aristotelian ethics. Both generalists and particularists, even if they fundamentally disagree about their role, understand principles in Aristotle's moral philosophy as universal moral rules. Our new understanding of the role of principles in Aristotle's conception of practical rationality thus opens a path to a philosophical reinterpretation of Aristotle's moral philosophy that should also be of a more general philosophical interest.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Italy
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Andrea Falcon, Ph.D.