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The classical virtue of “prudence “, especially in its form of “political prudence “, provides a useful conceptual framework for a better understanding of the precautionary principle. This is because, in the end, this new legal standard is nothing less than an appeal to prudence when we are dealing with technologies that may be potentially harmful to public health and the environment. Prudence is not to be understood here as meaning unwillingness to take action or lack of courage to face new challenges. Rather on the contrary, this term is employed in this context with its classical meaning of “ability to discern the most suitable course of action.“1 Prudence constitutes what Aristotle called “practical wisdom “(phronesis), opposed to the theoretical wisdom (sophia): while the latter aims at universal truths and is concerned with knowledge of things that cannot be otherwise, practical wisdom is always concerned with the …