Ethics of Hermeneutics: Heideggerian Resoluteness as a Meta-virtue

The relevance of φρόνησις to the hermeneutic turn in phenomenology is documented in a course conducted by Heidegger during the WS 1924/5. Φρόνησις offers a paradigm for authentic existence, demanding a conversion of the soul and the acquisition of a new worldview. While the intellect abstracts from the pathe of sensibility, φρόνησις, as its perfection, entails pursuing the universal good, which the former presents as its destination. This concept aligns with the Kantian notion of wisdom: a practical interpretation of the world achievable only through ethical striving for the highest good. However, the consistency of the latter has often been questioned, as its reality implies a moral author of the world, generally considered at odds with autonomy. This impasse still provides a deeper insight on a meta-virtue required by φρόνησις – resoluteness – defined by its insistence on a gaze capable of discerning qualitative difference among the various phenomena we encounter.