#38. Aristotle: Be Mean, Please
6 post(s),
4 voice(s)
| Brian Johnson Administrator 556 post(s) |
"For both excessive and insufficient exercise destroy one's strength, and both eating and drinking too much or too little destroy health, whereas the right quantity produces, increases or preserves it. So it is the same with temperance, courage and the other virtues... This much then, is clear: in all our conduct it is the mean that is to be commended." ~ Aristotle, 4th century bce Greek philosopher from The Nicomachean Ethics The Mean. Aristotle establishes the fact that virtue lies between the vice of excess and the vice of deficiency. My favorite example of the mean is courage: If we don’t have any fear, we’re prone to rash behavior--this is a vice. If we allow our fears to overwhelm us, we’ll be cowardly--this, too, is a vice. The virtue, of course, is with the mean: Courage. As Aristotle reminds us, it's not about being fearless, it's about acknowledging the fear and then having the courage to do what needs to be done in spite of being afraid. A few other examples of the mean for those curious souls: Vice of Deficiency Virtuous Mean Vice of Excess Cowardice Courage Rashness Want of Ambition Right Ambition Over-Ambition Spiritlessness Good Temper Irascibility Boorishness Wittiness Buffoonery Shamelessness Modesty Bashfulness (“Buffoonery” has to be one of my favorite words, btw. That and “hardy.” :) |
| James_in_China 9 post(s) |
Re: Buffoonery There used to be a quiz show on NPR after “A Prairie Home Companion,” called “My Word” (may still be on, for all I know). Celebrity guests had to answer questions about language. They were really “witty” people. Sometimes, when one didn’t know the answer, he’d make up something funny. The moderator, who had full power over the granting of points, would say, “Two marks, for effrontery.” Cracked me up. As a junior hi teacher, I used that more than once in class! Couldn’t give marks for buffoonery, tough… |
| James_in_China 9 post(s) |
Oh yeah: “Golden mean”=Buddhism’s “Middle Way.” Lots of Buddhist literature on that. The Greeks and the Aryans of India had a lot in common… |
| TravisE 20 post(s) |
James beat me to it! |
| Brian Johnson Administrator 556 post(s) |
love it! :) |
| donkarp 2 post(s) |
My philosphy prof in college told us that Aristotle’s mean was only valid in things like eating and such. Not in important life issues. and actions. He was teaching courses in political philosphy. What would the “mean” look like in US politics? A moderate? Perhaps this is to be compared with the Middle Way of the Buddah? Or with the fact that introducing the proper third element resolves the twosome of polarities? |
