Hitting the Mark

1st slide

There are two ways to avoid mediocrity

1. To excel or fail at something in a big way

2. To live the fullest life possible, developing and nurturing all good and necessary qualities while
avoiding all character defects.

2nd

Temperance (or voluntary self-restraint) was one o the cardinal virtues in Plato’s Republic and it was a
key virtue for Socrates. Syempre di papatalo si Aristotle kaya binase niya yung buong moral philosophy
niya on moderation:

3rd slide

First of all, it must be observed that the nature of moral qualities is such that they are destroyed by
defect and by excess…….the proportionate amount, however, produces, increases, and strengthens it.

Same with self-control, courage, and the other virtues, they are destroyed by excess and deficiency and
are preserved by the mean.

4th slide

The Principle of the Mean

Aristotelian moderation

is based on the concept that wisdom is hitting the mark between too much and not enough.

A life completely devoted to playing it safe would be off the mark— cowardly, boorish, and insensitive in
Aristotle’s terms.

Living recklessly or self-indulgently, going from extreme to extreme, will not produce a good, full life
either.

5th slide

Eto maganda to pramis…

Each person’s prescription for self-realization must be determined by his or her own actual condition.

7th slide

Character and Habit

Central to Aristotle’s ethics is the notion of character.

For Aristotle, character referred to the overall nature or tone of a person’s habits, the habitual or
predictable and usual way a person behaves.

10th slide

Practical wisdom

-involves choosing the right goals and acting on them.

- can help those of us lacking good habits to develop them:

12th slide

“You can act yourself into right thinking, but you can’t think yourself into right acting.”

That’s deep bro, so deep

13th slide

Aristotelian point:

Happiness requires action

14th slide

Aristotle thought that good habits ingrained in childhood produced the happiest, best life. He said it was
better to “overtighten the bow string” in youth, because aging would naturally loosen it.

15th slide

Application of the Mean

Aristotle characterized moral virtue as a mean between too little and too much.

In his terms, the mean is located between deficiency and excess.

16st slide

Conclusion of aristotle:
Thinking only in terms of right or wrong can lead to a perception of virtues and vices as simple
opposites, whereas Aristotle’s system treats them as part of an organic whole, in which each element
affects the others and the overall functioning of the organism.