“I am convinced that every effort must be made in childhood to teach the young to use their own minds. For one thing is sure: If they don’t make up their minds, someone will do it for them.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
November is our month to focus on the virtue of prudence—also known as practical wisdom or good judgment. Like humility, prudence is foundational to all other virtues, because, as philosopher Josef Pieper says, “What is prudent and what is good are substantially one and the same; they differ only in their place in the logical succession…for whatever is good must first have been prudent. Prudence informs other virtues.” Prudence can be exercised in nearly every moment of our waking lives in the choices before us:
- To spend time on TikTok or not to spend time on TikTok?
- To read or to go for a run?
- To do the dishes or to spend time with my family?
- To be a stay-at-home parent or to go to work?
- To eat a burger or to eat a salad?
- To spend my free time coding or knitting or painting or video gaming or…?
The decisions we make each day and throughout our lives are seemingly endless! And if we don’t choose, our decisions will be made for us—we’ll be set adrift amidst an ocean of powerful people, ideologies, and companies all vying for our allegiance, and we won’t be sturdy enough to stand our ground. This is why it is important to have prudence at your side. An important part of being wise is knowing how to make a good decision and then actually doing it.
The Greeks called this type of wisdom φρόνησις, or phronesis. In Latin, this word became prudentia, which then became prudence in English. This type of wisdom is traditionally contrasted with σοφία, or sophia (you might recognize this as a root in the word philoSOPHY!). The sophia type of wisdom is usually taken to be much more theoretical than practical. Prudence, on the other hand, is useful by definition. Medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas defines prudence as “right reason applied to action”. Simply put, being prudent means to:
Prudence provides a bridge between the hands and the head, between thought and action. Meanwhile, prudence is opposed to either overthinking (irresoluteness) or acting too quickly (rashness). Two of Shakespeare’s characters display these vices—Hamlet is an example of someone with a bad case of analysis paralysis, unable to get out of his own head and make a decision. On the other side, Romeo leaps into action, deciding to join Juliet in death before he even has time to investigate whether she really is dead or not! Like Hamlet, we can sometimes feel scared to make good decisions, but not making decisions at all is scarier still. Likewise, it is also dangerous to make decisions too quickly or rashly, without adequate thought. Prudence involves right thought and right action both.
It is especially prudent to learn from other prudent people—three such exemplars are King Arthur, Marmee (the mother in Little Women), and Gandalf. Let’s see what advice they have for us:
Prudent people don’t just become prudent overnight. To become prudent, we can imitate these three (and others!), but we can also intentionally practice this virtue. Here’s a short (non-comprehensive) list to do just that! For specific ideas, refer to our Practices to Cultivate Prudence section in the Virtues Field Guide (link in our Parent Portal).
- Prudent people, like humble people, know the limits of their own knowledge.
- Prudent people “see as it were from afar.”
- Prudent people spend time in thought before making a decision.
- Prudent people are properly decisive.
- Prudent people learn from their experiences.
Here is a quick 3-minute video giving an overview of Prudence. Watch with your littles to help them join the conversation about what prudence is and how to develop practical wisdom!
Our Virtues Field Guide (linked in our Parent Portal) dives deep into virtue—read the section on Prudence on pages 12-16! And purchase the virtues posters here to help encourage you on the path toward the good, true, and beautiful each day!
