Practical Truth in Aristotle

Abstract

In explaining the nature of phronēsis in Nicomachean Ethics 6, Aristotle invokes what he calls ‘practical truth’. The paper distinguishes and adjudicates between several interpretations of the puzzling phrase, including that of G. E. M. Anscombe. Its main tool of analysis is a distinction between semantic or assertoric truth, and truth in some richer-than-semantic sense. This distinction is illustrated from Aristotelian texts outside the Nicomachean Ethics. In conclusion, the paper reflects on the question of what the notion of practical truth contributes to the argument of the Nicomachean Ethics.