Aristotle says that there are five ways in which the soul grasps the truth. In these are scientific knowledge and prudence. He defines scientific knowledge as something that is learnable, from what is already known. The knowledge then is universal and necessary. They are the unchanging nature of how things are. So scientific knowledge is the base, never changing, and has to be true, it cannot be false. On the other hand Aristotle says that prudence is a changing knowledge. He says that prudence is concerned with human good. In order to deal with the human good one must assess the situation and form an opinion of what is happening. Now Aristotle says that opinion is changing and can be true or false depending on the situation. Not only does prudence change according to the situation, but it also changes according to the grounds of our knowledge. For example a young person does not contain all the knowledge of right and wrong or the knowledge of a certain subject, whereas an older person may have the knowledge of these things. Therefore Aristotle says that prudence also comes with age, wisdom, and experience. Through experience and age we begin to form opinions and see bases of right and wrong, or gain knowledge of certain things. Aristotle also says then that prudence deals with particulars. .
Particulars are situation relevant; they are concerned with what is going on, when, and what can be done to get a certain outcome. To Aristotle universals and particulars are like a funnel the most generic statement or fact at the top where it's wide, and the more specific being the particulars towards the bottom of the funnel where it's narrow. The scientific knowledge or universals, give a base or common ground which is always true. But when we get to the particulars, circumstances may change based on the situation. Thus, what may be right or prudent in one situation, and we may be inaccurate or unreasonable in another.