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Ecophronesis: The Ecological Practical Wisdom for and from Ecological Practice

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Ecological Wisdom

Part of the book series: EcoWISE ((EcoWISE))

Abstract

This essay addresses three questions pertaining to the assertion that ecological wisdom connotes both Platonian sophia (theoretical wisdom ) and Aristotelian phronesis (practical wisdom ): What is Aristotelian phronesis in the context of ecological wisdom ? Why should it be juxtaposed with sophia at the nexus of ecological wisdom ? How relevant is it to the contemporary ecological practice (planning, design, construction, and management)? The essay posits the construct of ecophronesis (ecological phronesis) as the ecological practical wisdom that people acquire from and use for ecological practice , describes the relationship between ecophronesis and Naessian ecosophy (ecological theoretical wisdom ), and explores the relevance of ecophronesis to ecological practice and actionable science.

This chapter is a reprint with permission from Elsevier. Landscape and Urban Planning, 2016 Special Issue on Ecological Wisdom.

Xiang, W. N. (2016). Ecophronesis: The ecological practical wisdom for and from ecological practice. Landscape and Urban Planning, 155, 53-60.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the following individuals for informative discussions, comments, and suggestions during the preparation and revision of this essay: Jack Ahern (University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA); Jeffrey Chan (National University of Singapore, Singapore); Shan Gao (Suzhou University, Suzhou, China); Xiangzhan Cheng (Shandong University, Jinan, China); Shu-Li Huang (National Taipei University, Taipei, Taiwan); Fritz Steiner (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA); Simon Swaffield (Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand); Sander van der Leeuw (Arizona State University, Tempe, USA); Xinhao Wang (University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, USA); Bo-Shan Xiang (Yale University, New Haven, USA); Tong Xiang (Dosomething.org, New York City, USA); Wentao Yan (Chongqing University, Chongqing, China); and Bo Yang (The Utah State University, Logan, USA). I am also indebted to the two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions and to Ying Chen (Tongji University, Shanghai, China) for editorial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Ecological Wisdom and Practice Research (CEWPR), College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Wei-Ning Xiang

  2. Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC, 28223, USA

    Wei-Ning Xiang

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  1. Wei-Ning Xiang
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Correspondence to Wei-Ning Xiang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Landscape Architecture and Planning, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Bo Yang

  2. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Robert Fredrick Young

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Xiang, WN. (2019). Ecophronesis: The Ecological Practical Wisdom for and from Ecological Practice. In: Yang, B., Young, R. (eds) Ecological Wisdom. EcoWISE. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0571-9_2

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