Golden mean

Golden mean may refer to:

See also

Golden mean (philosophy)

In philosophy, especially that of Aristotle, the golden mean is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency. For example, in the Aristotelian view, courage is a virtue, but if taken to excess would manifest as recklessness, and, in deficiency, cowardice.

To the Greek mentality, it was an attribute of beauty. Both ancients and moderns believed that there is a close association in mathematics between beauty and truth. The Greeks believed there to be three "ingredients" to beauty: symmetry, proportion, and harmony. Beauty was an object of love and something that was to be imitated and reproduced in their lives, architecture, education (paideia), and politics. They judged life by this mentality.

In Chinese philosophy, a similar concept, Doctrine of the Mean, was propounded by Confucius. Buddhist philosophy likewise includes the concept of the Middle Way.

History

Western philosophy

Crete

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

Golden mean (Judaism)

Golden mean (Hebrew: "שביל הזהב", "דרך האמצע") is one of the cornerstone beliefs of Judaism. In the Jewish literature, the golden mean is primarily associated with the philosopher Rambam, and was influenced by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. In Mishneh Torah, Rambam attributes the method to the first scholars (Chazal) and to Abraham. Similar concepts exist in the Rabbinic literature, Tosefta, and the Yerushalmi. Rabbi Yitzhak Arama also finds references in the Bible.

Rambam determined that a person needs to take care of the soul as well as the body, and just as a sick person turns to a doctor, a person with mental illness must turn to the doctor of the soul, which is the philosopher or the sage. Rambam opposed the deterministic approach, arguing that a person has free will and the ability to shape his or her life.

The concepts are part of a system which aims to improve the mental and moral qualities of a person. The hallmark of this method is its simplicity, presented as a part of Rambam's perception about the nature of the soul in the fourth chapter of his introduction to Pirkei Avot in the Mishnah (also known as the "Eight Chapters").