The golden mean or golden middle way is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency. It appeared in Greek at least as early as the Delphic maxim "nothing in excess", which was discussed in Plato's '' Philebus''. Aristotle analyzed the golden mean in the Nicomachean Ethics Book II: That virtues of character can be described as means. It was subsequently emphasized in Aristotelian virtue ethics. For example, in the Aristotelian view,

courage Courage (also called bravery, valour ( British and Commonwealth English), or valor (American English)) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in ...

is a

virtue A virtue () is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be morality, moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is Value (ethics), valued as an Telos, end purpos ...

, but if taken to excess would manifest as recklessness, and, in deficiency, cowardice. The middle way form of government for Aristotle was a blend between monarchy, democracy and aristocracy.

History

Western philosophy

Crete

The earliest representation of this idea in culture is probably in the mythological Cretan tale of

Daedalus In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek language, Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin language, Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan language, Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. H ...

and Icarus. Daedalus, a famous artist of his time, built feathered wings for himself and his son so that they might escape the clutches of King Minos. Daedalus warns his beloved son whom he loved so much to "''fly the middle course''", between the sea spray and the sun's heat. Icarus did not heed his father; he flew up and up until the sun melted the wax off his wings. For not heeding the middle course, he fell into the sea and drowned.

Delphi

Another early elaboration is the Doric saying carved on the front of the temple at

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...

: "Nothing in excess" (" Μηδὲν ἄγαν").

Cleobulus

To Cleobulus is attributed the maxim: Μέτρον ἄριστον ("Moderation is best").

Socrates

Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...

teaches that a man must know "how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible." In education, Socrates asks us to consider the effect of either an exclusive devotion to gymnastics or an exclusive devotion to music. It either "produced a temper of hardness and ferocity, (or) the other of softness and effeminacy." Having both qualities, he believed, produces harmony; i.e., beauty and goodness.

Plato

Proportion's relation to beauty and goodness is stressed throughout

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

's dialogues, particularly in the ''Republic'' and '' Philebus''. He writes (''Phlb.'' 64d–65a): In the ''

Laws Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

'', Plato applies this principle to electing a government in the ideal state: "Conducted in this way, the election will strike a mean between monarchy and democracy …"

Aristotle

In the '' Eudemian Ethics'',

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

writes on the virtues. Aristotle’s theory on virtue ethics is one that does not see a person’s actions as a reflection of their ethics but rather looks into the character of a person as the reason behind their ethics. His constant phrase is, "… is the Middle state between …". His psychology of the soul and its virtues is based on the golden mean between the extremes. In the ''

Politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

'', Aristotle criticizes the Spartan Polity by critiquing the disproportionate elements of the constitution; e.g., they trained the men and not the women, and they trained for war but not peace. This disharmony produced difficulties which he elaborates on in his work. See also the discussion in the Nicomachean Ethics of the golden mean, and Aristotelian ethics in general. Each intellectual virtue is a mental skill or habit by which the mind arrives at truth, affirming what is or denying what is not. In the '' Nicomachean Ethics'' he discusses 11 moral virtues: ;Intellectual virtues # (intelligence), which apprehends fundamental truths (such as definitions, self-evident principles) # (science), which is skill with inferential reasoning (such as proofs, syllogisms, demonstrations) # (theoretical wisdom), which combines fundamental truths with valid, necessary inferences to reason well about unchanging truths. Aristotle also mentions several other traits: * (good sense) – passing judgment, "sympathetic understanding" * (understanding) – comprehending what others say, does not issue commands * (practical wisdom) – knowledge of what to do, knowledge of changing truths, issues commands * (art, craftsmanship) Aristotle's list is not the only list, however. As Alasdair MacIntyre observed in '' After Virtue'', thinkers as diverse as

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

, the authors of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

, and

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

have all proposed lists. Jacques Maritain, throughout his ''Introduction to Philosophy'' (1930), uses the idea of the golden mean to place Aristotelian-Thomist philosophy between the deficiencies and extremes of other philosophers and systems.

Eastern philosophy

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

(fl. 6th century BC) taught of the

Middle Way The Middle Way (; ) as well as "teaching the Dharma by the middle" (''majjhena dhammaṃ deseti'') are common Buddhist terms used to refer to two major aspects of the Dharma, that is, the teaching of the Buddha. The first phrasing, the Middle ...

, a path between the extremes of religious asceticism and worldly self-indulgence.

Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...

in '' The Analects'', written through the

Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...

Ancient China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

(c. 479 BC – 221 BC), taught excess is similar to deficiency. A way of living in the mean is the way of Zhongyong. Zhuangzi was the Tao's most famous commentator (369–286 BC). Tiruvalluvar (2nd century BC and the 8th century AD; date disputed) in his

Tirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or Kural (poetic form), kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books wit ...

of the Sangam period of

Tamilakam Tamilakam () also known as ancient Tamil country as was the geographical region inhabited by the ancient Tamil people, covering the southernmost region of the Indian subcontinent. Tamilakam covered today's Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, La ...

writes of the middle state which is to preserve equity. He emphasises this principle and suggests that the two ways of preserving equity is to be impartial and avoid excess. Parimelalagar was the historical commentator of the

Judaism

Rambam in Mishneh Torah attributes this method to the first scholars ( Chazal), and to

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

. Indeed, a similar concept exists even in the Rabbinic literature, Tosefta and the Yerushalmi. Yitzhak Arama finds references even in the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. One such instance is

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes ( ) is one of the Ketuvim ('Writings') of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ...

br>7:15-16
where the preacher admonishes his audience to "be not righteous over much" and to "be not over much wicked." Adam Clarke takes the phrase "righteous over much" to mean indulging in too much "austerity and hard study," and concludes that “there is no need of all this watching, fasting, praying, self-denial, etc., you carry things to extremes. Why should you wish to be reputed singular and precise?” Thus, the ideal of the golden mean may have existed as long as six hundred years before Aristotle. However, some scholars, such as Albert Barnes, hold a slightly different interpretation of Ecclesiastes 7:16-17. Ahead of the times Rambam, 1138-1204 AD (probably due to

's and

’s engagement with

Ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

), determined that a person has to take care of his soul as well as his body, and just as a person who is sick in his body turns to the doctor, a person who has mental illness needs to go to the doctor of the soul, which is, according to him, the philosopher or the sage. Rambam opposed the deterministic approach, arguing that a person has

free will Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...

and the ability to change its properties. The golden mean is also a core principle in Musar literature in which practitioners are encouraged to bring every character trait (''middah''; plural ''middot'') into a balanced place between extremes. For example, it is not good to have too much patience, but it is not good to live without any patience at all. Musar can be said to involve being mindful enough to bring one's character traits, thoughts and desires into a balanced state in real time; living one's life in accord with the golden mean.

Christianity

, the medieval

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, in hi
''Summa Theologiae'', Prima Secundæ Partis, Question 64
argued that Christian morality is consistent with the mean: "evil consists in discordance from their rule or measure. Now this may happen either by their exceeding the measure or by their falling short of it ... Therefore it is evident that moral virtue observes the mean."

Islam

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

promotes the golden mean in many instances. The

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

states an example in finance, in that a person should not spend all he makes as not to be caught needing, and not to be stingy as to not live a comfortable life.

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

also had a saying "خير الأمور أوسطها" meaning the best choice is the middle ground/golden mean one. In Quran (Chapter 'The Cow', verse number 143) it is said that, "We have made you a balanced, moderate nation". Quran quotes the example of two groups of people, calling one of them extremely greedy (Chasing the wealth of the world) in Chapter 'The Cow' verse 96 and to the others as inventors of monasticism (over-zealousness in religion) in Chapter Al-Hadeed verse number 27. Islam counsels its followers to abstain from both these paths of extremities and adopt moderation in chasing the world and practicing religion alike. Not the least the Quran emphasises that the Muslim community (Umma) is a ’middle nation’ / a 'just community' / an Umma justly balanced / a moderate nation / a midmost nation (ummatan wasaTan) in verse 2-143: a middle between extremism and sloppiness.

Quotations

*"In many things the middle have the best / Be mine a middle station."
— Phocylides *"When Coleridge tried to define beauty, he returned always to one deep thought; beauty, he said, is unity in variety! Science is nothing else than the search to discover unity in the wild variety of nature,—or, more exactly, in the variety of our experience. Poetry, painting, the arts are the same search, in Coleridge’s phrase, for unity in variety."
— Jacob Bronowski *"…but for harmony beautiful to contemplate, science would not be worth following."
—

Henri Poincaré Jules Henri Poincaré (, ; ; 29 April 185417 July 1912) was a French mathematician, Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosophy of science, philosopher of science. He is often described as a polymath, and in mathemati ...

. *"If a man finds that his nature tends or is disposed to one of these extremes..., he should turn back and improve, so as to walk in the way of good people, which is the right way. The right way is the mean in each group of dispositions common to humanity; namely, that disposition which is equally distant from the two extremes in its class, not being nearer to the one than to the other."
—

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

*"What is wanted is a balance between extravagance and miserliness through moderation, with the goal of distance between both extremes."
— al-Ghazali

Notes

References

* '' Eudemian Ethics'', 1233b15 * ''

'', 691c, 756e–757a * '' Nicomachean Ethics'', 1106a–b * ''

'', 1270a and 1271b * ''

Republic (Plato) The ''Republic'' (; ) is a Socratic dialogue authored by Plato around 375 BC, concerning justice (), the order and character of the just city-state, and the just man. It is Plato's best-known work, and one of the world's most influential ...

'', 619

Bibliography

*''The Greek Way'', Edith Hamilton, W. W. Norton & Co., NY, 1993. *''Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, Why the Greeks Matter'', Thomas Cahill, Nan A. Talese an imprint of Doubleday, NY, 2003. {{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Mean (Philosophy) Pythagorean philosophy Concepts in ancient Greek ethics Philosophy of Aristotle