Thursday, September 5, 2013
Means and Absolutes
"Temperance is a mean with regard to pleasures". A man who works his day away for enough to feed himself is more satisfied and complete than the man who has been fed his entire life. Aristotle speaks of golden means; he rebuffs absolutes, details that virtue can only be found in the median between two or more iniquities. Stating this, he himself deals in an absolute. An absolute that there is no trait in which a total lack of which or a gross excess of could lead to a life where someone could flourish. In some regards he can quantify whether someone is dealing in a true excess or deficiency: it is morally upstanding to save a life by lying to a Nazi, and yes it can be a righteous decision to lie to a friend, but can one be too curious, and by that token could one become too knowledgeable. Ambition can be dangerous, it can lead to war and suffering, but can ambition of the soul and ambition of the mind lead to these things. Plato spake that everyone must find the purpose that best suits them, to strive for excellence so that they may benefit society as a whole. Aristotle teaches of means, of averages, to live a life that may be palatable, but can breed a society of ubiquitous mediocrity; wherein we all walk around in beige moo moos and hoodies, because it's the perfect blend of form and functionality. No one tells the athlete in his prime to slow down because he's becoming too dominate, they tell him to give all he can, then give some more. No one tells the genocidal tyrant to simmer down on his massacres, they tell him to stop, and then they stop him. Dealing in means is fine, if you're a tree; harboring nothing but "Nutritive Soul". If you are over- watered you die, if you are under- watered you die; that's about it. If you are a human being, you have potentials, you might even have dreams or aspirations. Now, it's equally true that if you eat too much you die, and if you eat too little you die; however if you eat just enough you die a little less quickly. In this regard why must you spend your time fine tuning yourself to the middle of every aspect of life. Now I'm not saying you should spend all day smoking crack because it feels good, or eating donuts because they taste good. Consumption is something where the mean is a matter of necessity; although if you show promise as a runner why not run all day, so when you die you can say I was the best I could be. If you are a great intellect why not spend all day exploring the aspects of knowledge, so you can open the world up to new facets of research and study. The world isn't as small as it was three thousand years ago, you could work your entire life trying to reach the kalos kagathos Aristotle taught, the perfect balance of mind and body. The world and the attainable realm of knowledge and prowess has been ever expanding and you will never find perfection in every aspect of life. You won't live long enough and you will make yourself miserable while you spending your entire life trying. As Kierkegaard said "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced."
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I certainly agree that in our modern society (or at least in American society) we encourage excellence and have that "give it your all" mentality, but I feel that from your post you have misrepresented Aristotle's idea of virtue. Even though we may tell a 20 year old runner to run all day if that's what he/she is passionate about, we wouldn't tell a 70 year old retired track star to do the same. Aristotle's "golden mean" is not a true average that applies to everyone. By his definition it is a particular balance which differs for everyone. In the reading Aristotle uses an example of gymnasts to demonstrate his point. When training 2 athletes, one advanced and one a beginner, it is appropriate to give the advanced athlete more food than the beginner athlete. The advanced athlete is not engaged in an extreme nor is the beginner engaged in a deficiency, but are both receiving the correct portion in respect to their experience. Relating this back, the 20 year old athlete we will tell to run all day because we know/expect that he/she can do it, but the 70 year old we know cannot and would advise them to take it easy or not run at all. As to where dreams and aspirations fall into play I'm not sure, but even Plato advocates Aristotle's mean to a degree. In the perfect city, the rulers will tell the cabinet makers to be excellent at what they do but will tell them to stop if the city needs no more cabinets. So similarly our desires (more or less) are excellent at what they do but we do not engage in them without limit, our rationality will delegate which desires should be satiated and to what extent they should be as well.
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