Heidegger's Interpretation of Phronesis and its Relation to Agathon (Idea of Good)

According to Heidegger, Aletheia is a category by which one can understand the relationship between phronesis and Agathon; because Heidegger has used Aletheia in its Greek sense, i.e. disclosure and openness and not true in the sense of correspondence with the reality. Having accepted Aletheia as disclosure and openness, the relationship between phronesis and Agathon becomes possible in two ways. Firstly, phronesis, as conceived by Heidegger, refers to a mode of disclosure and openness or to put it more precisely, a mode of the existence of Dasein which is related to praxis and action and leads Dasein towards the best action, i.e. existential being. Agathon is also the source of Aletheia. To put it otherwise, it is the source of disclosure and openness as well as the source of being and Dasein. Secondly, Heidegger does not attribute the transcendence in Agathon to any supra-temporal and spatial existence, i.e. God, rather to Dasein himself. Said differently, Agathon includes the being and existing capabilities in Dasein and the latter’s transcendence lies in passing through the existing condition and reaching existential being which is possible through overcoming the habits and reaching disclosure and openness. Thus, Agathon is the touchstone of the behaviors of Dasein. This is what Heidegger refers to as the call of conscience in his discussion of phronesis and considers it a basis for phronetic action; this is a call that comes from Dasein and invites him to reach a mode of existential being that would allow it to know himself as a Dasein and act according to it.