Extreme

We have been discussing the best application of the different states and actions that proceed from our souls. There are excesses, deficiencies and the mean. The mean can be considered “right” or the niche where our thoughts and actions will do us and those we interact with the most good. We are starting with passions.  

We don’t consider shame a virtue, but at the same time, we admire a modest person. So even with modesty there is a deficiency which would be a bashful person who is afraid of everything while an unashamed person can be perverse and indiscreet. Of course the mean would be a modest person. Even indignation has its extremes. Righteous indignation is angered at undeserved fortune. A person who is envious dislikes the good fortunes of others. Someone who is spiteful thinks that unjust gain is great as long as it goes to the person he favors.  Justice can be complex due to the many applications.

When fairness is decided between two people, they are agreeing to a standard or a mean that they both assent to. This is what we mean by justice, In a murder trial, making it right or “justice,” depends on a number of things. It could have been self-defense, there could have been mental issues, it may have been an accident or negligence all the way up to premeditated murder. There is no way to make killing another person a good thing and so there is no mean or niche where it is good, but killing does have degrees. When it is for public safety such as during an invasion or to rid society of a hazard in the absence of jails, the argument can be made for the good but even then we look at it as a very sad thing.

We can go deeper into the states of mind and passions: It is interesting when there is a good application, it is closer to the extremes than the extremes are to each other. A brave man will seem rash to a coward and seem cowardly to a rash man. A coward is definitely a coward to a rash man but might not look so bad to a brave man. A prodigal might appear closer to being liberal than someone who is stingy. We can call things that are at the actual extremes, contraries. The niche or “right”, will at times be closer to either extreme. For instance, cowardice is more opposed to courage than rashness. So cowardice is further than rashness is from the right application, courage.  So most times people consider cowardice the opposite rather than an extreme.  This applies to pleasure. We consider self-indulgence opposite to temperance because most people fall short in this area.  But in reality, being frigid and paranoid is the other extreme to pleasure.

Speaking of self-indulgence, I have a date with the beach, so have a good day!