Aristotle on Practical and Theoretical Knowledge
David Charles
In D. Henry & K. Nielsen (Eds.), Bridging the Gap between Aristotle's Science and Ethics
Cambridge, 2015

"The self-controlled ... are characterised as acting on opinion (doxa) and not on knowledge. Their failure to acquire practical knowledge parallels that of those ... with opinion but lacking theoretical knowledge. The self-controlled do not have knowledge of the relevant goal because they do not experience for themselves its attractiveness or see (or properly grasp) so acting as their goal. In the language of the Analytics, they do not grasp by nous the first principle which governs the relevant domain. By contrast, the practically wise have knowledge because they grasp this goal as their goal on the basis of its perceived fineness." (CHARLES-2015, p. 86)

"[I]f one already has a worked out life plan (or determinate view of eudaimonia or human nature), one can deliberate about how to implement (or instantiate) it. But how has one arrived as this conception, if not from finding particular actions attractive and subsequently reflecting on them to arrive at a determinate goal to live by? .... It is from experience of particulars that we move towards the goal (1143b4-5). The experience of fine particular actions gives one reason to take doing such actions as one's goal. On this basis, trained or natural virtue can 'teach of correct thinking about the goal' (1151a17ff), offering emotionally convincing reasons for taking acting finely as one's goal." (CHARLES-2015, p. 88)

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