How To Be a ‘Wise’ Researcher: Learning from the Aristotelian Approach to Practical Wisdom

How can you act ethically in a publication system that attempts to regulate research activity in a way that you might find, in many respects, to be unethical? In this article, we address this question by drawing on the Aristotelian perspective of practical wisdom. Drawing on thirty semi-structured interviews with academics working in French business schools, we outline different means through which they act ‘wisely’ by deliberating and focusing on what is within their power and in line with their best judgment. In particular, we show how some of them succeed in performing virtuous actions both within the publication system and beyond.