Jonas does not for a moment believe that his ethics alone...

Jonas does not for a moment believe that his ethics alone can bring about total good, but rather, aware of its limits, he just seeks to protect the conditions of liberty, happiness and the future assumption of responsibilities; in the same way that Aristotelian prudence, rather than effectively producing practical truth, protects and cultivates the conditions for its appearance; in the same way as Peirce recommends as the ultimate maxim of reason, as the most universal and conclusive norm, that we should ensure the conditions needed for free research, and not block the way of inquiry.

In short, the rational attitude consists above all in a protection and stimulation of the creative capacities that will allow us to adapt in the future to unforeseeable conditions.

Prudent rationality, although it does not guarantee it, is directed towards creative discovery , seeking to make it possible at all times, ensuring and stimulating the right conditions for it, removing obstacles, and upholding the openness of human action so that it can tackle the future course of events, always open and never altogether determined. On the other hand, the compliance with prudence and responsibility in difficult situations depends precisely on creativity.

All too often human action is described from the methodological or ethical point of view as a set of alternatives, as the obligation to choose from pre-set options; in this way, it is forgotten that many times the best option - or the least bad - is not available and has to be created while it is chosen and put into effect. Furthermore, the development of what is created and judgement on its adaptation are again carried out under the auspices of prudence.

This multiple linking of the principles of prudence with creative discovery demands of us an elucidation of this concept. Current versions of prudence, like Peirce’s maxim or Jonas’s principle, are at the service of creative discovery. Aristotelian prudence seeks practical truth. This article seeks to trace a movement from the Aristotelian notion of practical truth to the Peircian concept of creative discovery , or, if we prefer, of poetic listening , as Prigogine would say.

Science discovers as it creates: it makes discoveries. This allows its activity to go in the direction of truth, but that truth must be made, brought about and actualized. Science - unlike the Moderns - does not aspire principally to certainty, but must go on - unlike the Postmoderns - looking for truth.