Comments on: New Year’s Resolutions, Goal Setting and Education https://educationalrenaissance.com/2024/01/06/new-years-resolutions-goal-setting-and-education/ Promoting a Rebirth of Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Era Sat, 06 Jan 2024 23:12:31 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 By: Mark https://educationalrenaissance.com/2024/01/06/new-years-resolutions-goal-setting-and-education/#comment-5195 Sat, 06 Jan 2024 23:12:31 +0000 https://educationalrenaissance.com/?p=4139#comment-5195 Thanks for the great article! I wonder if this approach could be enriched by looking specifically towards Thomas Aquinas’ exposition of phronesis, for example as seen in OP Fr. Gregory Pine: “Prudence: Choose confidently, live boldly”.

He writes the following among other things, on prudence, which seem to encompass the WOOP-approach mentioned here:

Saint Thomas identifies three acts of prudence, which he calls counsel, judgment, and command

Counsel
In a more complicated action though, there might be a few means to a particular end. Say, for instance, you want to travel from Washington, D.C., to New Haven, Connecticut. If you drive, it will take about six hours. You like listening to podcasts and audiobooks, but aren’t especially excited to drive alone. If you take the train, it will take about the same amoun

“By a closer look at the metaphorical foundation, walls, and roof that together make up prudence, we discover a wealth of subtle perfections, testimony to the divine craftsmanship at work in the life of reason. Saint Thomas calls these perfections the integral parts of prudence. He lists eight of them: memory, docility, understanding, shrewdness, reason, foresight, caution, and circumspection.”

“The fifth part of prudence is reasoning, used here to signify the way that the human intellect moves step by step when working out a choice. As human beings, we are made toward the goal of life, but we aren’t quite there. To arrive at happiness, we must take the right steps. Our intellectual nature reflects this fact and reasoning sees to it that we take those steps well”

“Reasoning is especially visible in how you plan the evening. From start to finish, you see to every detail. You do the research and make the reservation. You alert the restaurant to your friends’ dietary restrictions. You scout out parking, estimate transit time, and make sure each of your friends has all the information he or she needs. All is accounted for.

These first five integral parts — memory, understanding, docility, shrewdness, and reasoning — perfect prudence’s work of knowing. The remaining three integral parts perfect prudence’s work of commanding.

The sixth integral part of prudence is foresight. Foresight provides for the future by ensuring that we hold the end in mind when carrying out the action. In the moment, it can be easy to get a bit caught up, and at times, we risk losing ourselves in the excitement. Foresight has one look to the end. It’s a kind of prudential recollection in the purpose of action

The eighth and final integral part of prudence is caution. Caution avoids obstacles that appear in the performance of an action. With many good choices, some potentially perilous circumstances may be mixed in. That’s just the way of contingent and complex realities. Caution gauges these circumstances in order to avoid or manage them. For instance, you know that certain topics may come up in the course of the evening, and if they do, the conversation may be a bit tense. You prepare in anticipation and remain on the lookout as the meal progresses. Mindful of your friends’ sensitivities and strongly held opinions, you’re able to facilitate an engaging discussion and chart a course around any potential pitfalls

Prudence is the virtue that perfects practical reason in all of its ins and outs. It’s an excellence for the way, suiting us beautifully to a life on the way.

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