Why the practice of medicine is not a phronetic activity

This essay argues that the practice of medicine is not a phronetic activity in the original Aristotelian sense of that term. Jonsen and Toulmin are tw o philosophers who have conflated the techne of medicine with phronesis. Th is conflation ignores Aristotle's crucial distinction between techne and ph ronesis and his use of the medical analogy. It is argued that medical reaso ning is similar to phronesis but does not exemplify it. Phronesis will not save the life of medical ethics. The concept could be utilized as a moral p rosthetic.