Regardless of the lack of a term for phronesis in our modern vocabulary, the principal objective for social research with a phronetic approach is to perform analyses and derive interpretations of the status of values and interests in societies or social organizations aimed at social change. The point of departure for classical phronetic research can be summarized in the following three value-rational questions:

– Where are we going?
– Is this development desirable?
– What, if anything, should we do about it?

The ‘we’ here consists of those researchers asking the questions and those who share the concerns of the researchers, including people in the social organization under study. Later, when I have discussed the implications of power for phronesis, I will add a fourth question:

– Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power?

Bent Flyvbjerg

Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making Social Science Matter. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511810503