Phrónesis as hermeneutical rationality: Gadamer, Aristotle and a new reinterpretation of Neoplatonism

Abstract

This article examines the reception of φρόνησις and σοφία in the philosophies of Martin Heidegger and Hans-
Georg Gadamer in order to rethink hermeneutic ontology beyond the technical-positivist paradigm. I argue that the
articulation of practical and theoretical rationality presupposes an originary unity of thinking that remains insufficiently
articulated: namely, the mediation of νόησις as the ontological structure of understanding. Whereas Heidegger
interprets φρόνησις as a modality of facticity and Gadamer appropriates it as the matrix of a historically situated
rationality, both leave implicit the noetic root that unifies φρόνησις and σοφία. The article shows that Neoplatonism
systematically develops this unity by integrating life, λόγος, and contemplation within an ontological conception of
intellect. From this perspective, νόησις emerges as a pre-predicative dimension grounding self-understanding, thus
broadening the ontological horizon of contemporary hermeneutics.