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Literature | Wise words
SKG

“Virtue, then, is a state of character concerned
with choice, lying in a mean i.e., the mean relative
The philosophy to us, this being determined by a rational principle,
and by that principle by which the man of practical
of happiness wisdom would determine it. Now, it is a mean
between two vices, that which depends on excess
For Aristotle, the highest human and that which depends on defect; and again it
good of Eudaimonia can be found is a mean because the vices respectively fall short
somewhere in the middle. Για of or exceed what is right in both passions and
τον Αριστοτέλη, η απόκτηση του actions, while virtue both finds and chooses that
υπέρτατου αγαθού της ευδαιμονίας which is intermediate.” (Definition of virtue, from
Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, Section 6)
βρίσκεται κάπου στη μέση. Great philosopher, student of Plato, teacher of
by Dimitris Golegos Alexander the Great, founder of the Peripatetic
School, the first genuine scientist in history
(according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica),
Father of Western Philosophy and one of the
most influential figures in the history of mankind.
Aristotle was born in 384 BC, in Stagira in the
Chalkidiki peninsula. Over the course of his life,
Aristotle tackled an incredible range and variety
of ideas, though the notion of virtue dominates a
large portion of his works. He was a man who did
not only attempt to answer many of the burning
questions in life – with his characteristic empirical
approach – but he also developed his theory on
what makes people happy.
According to the great philosopher, attaining
happiness or eudaimonia is the ultimate purpose
of man, it is his most important achievement,
and this is directly connected to the idea of
virtue. As defined by Aristotle, virtue is a mean
or intermediate between two extremes: one
of excess and one of deficiency. For example,
bravery is neither cowardliness or rashness, but
rather the mean or intermediate between the
two. Eudaimonia is always found by selecting the
intermediate between two extremes. Of course,
pursuing this route is not associated with low
key attitudes, because in itself that behavior is a
deficiency. In contrast, the intermediate between
arrogance and meanness is humility.
However, the boundaries between excess and
deficiency are not always discrete, as they are in
Mathematics, where the intermediate between 2
and 10 is 6, because it is just as far from each of the
two numbers. This thinking cannot be applied to
human relationships. Aristotle explains that the
idea of an intermediate or a mean cannot be the
same for all people. A certain amount of food is
enough for an athlete, while someone who does not
exercise would require a different amount. In this
way, the idea of a mean is subjectively determined
by factors such as rationality, knowledge, free will,
self-knowledge, and mostly, experience.

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