The implications of Aristotle's phronesis for organizational inquiry

In this chapter, we discuss Aristotle's 'intellectual virtue' of phronesis; generally translated as 'prudence' or 'practical wisdom'. We consider various references to the term in academic literature and its relevance to the area of organizational inquiry. We challenge the dominance of scientific rationality and the search for underlying 'truth' within some organizational research but, at the same time, we find a place for rational thought and for the notion of general 'truths'