Extremes

Aristotle wrote about a lot of different topics during his life—and founded many of the disciplines we know today—including rhetoric and physics. The one we are going to talk about today is his perspective on ethics and how he viewed the virtuous life. 

We’ve encountered more and more extreme viewpoints on different topics lately—be it fitness, nutrition, politics, science, etc. This runs directly opposite of what Aristotle taught. His takeaway was the path to a virtuous life is to aim at “The Golden Mean”—the middle way between two extremes. This means that moderation and avoiding extremes is the path to the virtuous life.    

What we have witnessed in the last years, is that people have started to gravitate to the more extreme ends of the spectrum in many aspects of life. We’ve had conversations with people that want to eat healthier and are considering going vegan... or maybe carnivore? There can be many reasons to choose the one or the other—political, ethical, environmental, autoimmune issues, etc. But to cut out an entire food group is an extreme measure—if you ask us, and you should ask yourself why you’re contemplating it. Could there be a middle ground—a golden mean? The middle way is a more moderate approach and is also infinitely more sustainable. 

We covered this a bit in relation to exercise in our New Year’s Resolution article. If your goal is to get in shape this New Year—start by moving a little.  Don’t jump into some extreme training regimen. Find the middle way—a daily dose of exercise that is sustainable for you. Make sure it fits in with all the other things in your life. But where do you turn for help? Well, that can be tricky too—it’s hard not to pay attention to who’s shouting the loudest, or getting the most exposure. 

The Dunning Kruger Effect describes a cognitive bias where people with low ability at a task or topic overestimate their own ability. So someone who has seen a couple of YouTube videos or a documentary now is questioning the established science as a self-anointed expert.  Shouting extremes from a virtual soapbox can get you a lot of attention. Internet-delivered information is fantastic—but it needs to be balanced out with a good portion of humility—both towards the complexity of the subject and towards the very bright experts who have devoted their lives to studying the topic in question. There are so many complex topics to keep track of these days. Humility and attention will get us far and will save us from the extremes Aristotle warns us about. 

So here we are in “The Golden Mean”—we strive to train a bit, read a bit, work a bit, have a bit of time with family and friends, and we generally eat healthy foods. We are happier, healthier, and more effective when we avoid extremes in all things. Even our coffee drinking has become less extreme. 

We hope you’ll join us on the middle way,

Scott & Lennart