Aristotle's doctrine of the mean states that a virtue is the mean state between two vices: a deficient and an excessive one. The Corporate Ethical Virtues Model defines the mean and the corresponding deficient vice for each of its seven virtues. This paper defines for each of these virtues the corresponding excessive vice and explores why organizations characterized by these excessive vices increase the likelihood that their employees will behave unethically. The excessive vices are patronization, pompousness, lavishness, (...) zealotry, overexposure, talkativeness, and oppressiveness. (shrink)

Van Fraassen's Judy Benjamin problem asks how one ought to update one's credence in A upon receiving evidence of the sort ``A may or may not obtain, but B is k times likelier than C'', where {A,B,C} is a partition. Van Fraassen's solution, in the limiting case of increasing k, recommends a posterior converging to the probability of A conditional on A union B, where P is one's prior probability function. Grove and Halpern, and more recently Douven and Romeijn, have (...) argued that one ought to leave credence in A unchanged, i.e. fixed at P(A). We argue that while the former approach is superior, it brings about a Reflection violation due in part to neglect of a ``regression to the mean'' phenomenon, whereby when C is eliminated by random evidence that leaves A and B alive, the ratio P(A):P(B) ought to drift in the direction of 1:1. (shrink)

English translation, with Chinese source text, of a seminal Chinese classic.

Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean states that each moral virtue stands opposed to two types of vice: one of excess and one of deficiency, respectively. Critics claim that some virtues—like honesty, fair-mindedness, and patience—are counterexamples to Aristotle’s doctrine. Here, I develop a generalizable strategy to defend the doctrine of the mean against such counterexamples. I argue that not only is the doctrine of the mean defensible, but taking it seriously also allows us to gain substantial insight into (...) particular virtues. Failure to take the doctrine seriously, moreover, exposes us to the risk of mistaking certain vices for virtues. (shrink)

Aristotle's doctrine of the mean is not a counsel to perform mean or moderate actions. It states that excellence of character is a mean state with regard to the having and displaying of emotions. All emotions are morally neutral; character is shown by displaying emotions on the right occasions, Not too often or too rarely, Not too strongly or too weakly, For sufficient and only sufficient reasons, Etc. The difficulties for such a view presented by justice and (...) such bad emotions as envy are discussed. The conclusion is that basically aristotle's theory can resist critical scrutiny. (shrink)

The prelims comprise: The Doctrine of the Mean outside Aristotle's Ethical Works The “Mean” in Action and Feeling The Central Doctrine of the Mean Virtue as a Mean Disposition and the Moral Education of the Passions Acknowledgments References Further reading.

본 논문은 『中庸』을 더 쉽게 이해하기 위하여 『詩經』과 『中庸』에서 시가 담고 있는 사상을 비교⋅분석하고, 인용양상과 역할 및 그것이 담고 있는 중용철학을 살펴보는 연구이다. 『中庸』은 오직 『詩經』만을 인용하였고, 모두 16차례 인용이 보인다. 한번만 제외하고모두 출처가 『詩經』이라는 것을 밝혔는데, 이것은 『詩經』의 권위에 의탁하여 중용의 도를설명한다는 것을 나타낸다. 또한 일정한 형식 없이 필요한 부분만을 취하였다. 따라서 『詩經』 본래의 뜻과 『中庸』에서의 뜻이 달라지는 경우가 있었으며, 본의대로 수용되더라도뜻이 확장되는 경우도 있었다. 『詩經』의 시 중에서는 雅가 가장 많이 인용되었고, 다음으로 頌이다. 雅와 頌은 정악의 노래로써, 조회할 때와 (...) 제사에 쓰인다. 엄숙하며 공경하는내용으로 선왕의 덕을 드러내 중용의 도를 설명하기에 적합했을 것이다. 『中庸』의 장별로 살펴보면 1〜11장까지는 시가 인용되지 않았고, 중반부터 시작되어후반부에 집중적으로 인용되었다. 12장에 처음 인용되었으며, 26〜33장에서 가장 많이인용되었다. 특히 전편을 요약하여 마무리하는 33장은 시가 논지를 전개하고 있는데, 이것은 반복하여 간절한 뜻을 보여주기 위하여 『詩經』시를 활용한 것으로 보인다. 『中庸』의 4대절 분류로 볼 때 전반부에 속하는 1대절은 도의 근원과 실현 방법을 설명하는 부분으로 강령이 제시되었다. 중⋅후반부인 2대절부터 4대절까지는 1대절에서 제시한 강령을 설명하고, 중용의 도를 실천하는 방법⋅실천한 인물⋅공효를 밝히는 부분이다. 따라서 중⋅후반부에서는 시에 의탁하여 논지를 전개하고 증명하는 사례가 많았다. 인용된 시들은 『中庸』의 철학인 도의 費隱과 인도의 실천이 천도로 확장된다는 내용을 담고있다. 또한 성왕들의 사례를 시를 통해 보여줌으로써 유학의 목표인 수기치인을 실현해야함을 말하고 있다. 『中庸』에서 『詩經』을 인용한 의도와 인용된 시의 의미와 역할 등을 살펴보는 일은 『中庸』을 이해하는데 많은 도움을 될 것이다. (shrink)

In Zhongyong 中庸 (The Doctrine of the Mean), cheng 诚 (sincerity) is the “Dao of all Daos”, the “virtue of all virtues”, and thus connects the Dao of humans and that of Heaven. The Dao of humans can reveal the sincerity in the Dao of Heaven in two approaches: to contemplate on sincerity and to conduct in sincerity. Meanwhile, sincerity in the Dao of Heaven is unfolded in everything’s seeking for its own nature and destiny, thus the most fundamental (...) approach for the Dao of humans to reveal the sincerity in the Dao of Heaven is for humans to seek for everything’s own nature and destiny. (shrink)

Aristotle admits the possibility of many vices opposed to one virtue, but insists that there are always at least two, related as deficiency and excess. The doctrine that "virtue is in a mean" is thus both true and useful.

According to Aristotle's Doctrine of the Mean, virtue and a good life involve a mean of feeling and action. This chapter focuses on David Pear's claim that the Doctrine is conceptually incoherent. It argues that there are serious difficulties in understanding what it could be for courage and its feelings to be in a mean. Courage involves plural and incommensurable values, victory and danger, and the respective emotions, confidence and fear––it is difficult to see how these can (...) be resolved into a mean. It is argued that this problem can be solved by seeing how incommensurable value and emotions can fuse into complex wholes of disparate and incommensurable values and emotions, and can thus be assessed as lying or not lying in a mean. (shrink)

IN THINKING ABOUT the wonderfully helpful comments by Eric Cassell, Suzanne Jaeger, and Deborah Spitz, I find myself grappling with three central questions: How reliable a guide is world traveling? What kind of knowledge can be obtained by world traveling? and, What are the goals of treatment such that world traveling might be thought to serve a purpose? These questions arise from the insights, criticisms, and cautions the commentators provide, and I will weave together possible answers from ideas drawn from (...) the commentaries. (shrink)

Contemporary commentators such as Rosalind Hursthouse misconstrue Aristotle’s doctrine of the ethical mean. They propose a monist account of his moral psychology, explaining each virtue in terms of the presence or absence of a single psychological trait. In contrast, the author argues that Aristotle depicts virtue as a balancing of two opposed psychological inclinations that push and pull in different directions. Each inclination is a positive force in its own right; neither is mere privation. This dualistic account of moral (...) psychology is a more specific application of a recurrent explanatory model one finds elsewhere in Aristotle’s wide-ranging philosophy. In discussing the virtuous mean, moral success can be attributed to the human agent as composite whole or to the indivisible soul. (shrink)

Science is the study of the physical aspect of nature; consequently, its subject matter is data that can be collected, in principle, with the aid of purely physical devices. Schrödinger discovered for himself that Democritus of Abdera already understood this state of affairs in the fifth century BC, prior to the advent of the sophisticated instrumentations of today. Experimental data is subsequently generalized into laws of nature. Additionally, theoretical models are constructed that lead logically to such laws and make predictions (...) that can be experimentally tested. (shrink)

In this paper, we use Saaty's Eigenvector Method and the Power Method as well as Ω=1, 2, ⋯, 9, 1/2, 1/3, ⋯, 1/9} and Ω-={1,2, ⋯,9,1, 1/2, ⋯,1/9} as the sets from which the pairwise comparison judgments are assigned at random to examine the variation in the values determined for the mean random consistency index. By extensive simulation analysis, we found that both methods produce the same values for the mean random consistency random index. Also, we found that (...) the reason for producing two different sets of values is the use of Ω vs. Ω- and not the selection of the Power Method vs. Saaty's Eigenvector Method. (shrink)

In this paper, I argue that purely quantitative understandings of Aristotle's concept of "the mean" are oversimplified, and I make this argument by analyzing the particular emotion of anger. Anger, I contend, helps to complicate the purely quantitative understanding of the mean, insofar as, I argue, the amount of anger experienced is not the morally salient feature in determining whether or not the anger is virtuous. Rather, anger is one example of an emotion or trait for which other, (...) non-quantitative parameters of the mean are more salient, giving us a more nuanced understanding of what the mean is. Anger is virtuous not when it is in the right measurable degree, but rather when it is directed at the proper target. In this way, the virtue-making property of anger is distinctly qualitative. Examining anger provides insight into the concept of the mean and its role in Aristotle's ethics, and also helps to shed light on contemporary debates about political anger. (shrink)

Statistical reasoning is an integral part of modern scientific practice. In The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom Stephen Stigler presents seven core ideas, or pillars, of statistical thinking and the historical developments of each of these pillars, many of which were concurrent with developments in biology. Here we focus on Stigler’s fifth pillar, regression, and his discussion of how regression to the mean came to be thought of as a solution to a challenge for the theory of natural selection. (...) Stigler argues that the purely mathematical phenomenon of regression to the mean provides a resolution to a problem for Darwin’s evolutionary theory. Thus, he argues that the resolution to the problem for Darwin’s theory is purely mathematical, rather than causal. We show why this argument is problematic. (shrink)

이 글은 유교생태담론에 대한 성찰을 바탕으로, 『중용(中庸)』에서 유교생태윤리의 실천원리를 찾아본 것이다. 현재 유교생태담론은 ‘인문주의적 생태주의’ 관점에서 시사점을 넘어 이론을 정립하는 데까지 이르렀지만, 구체적인 실천원리와 방법의 제시에는 이르지 못하고 있다. 최근 생태철학의 쟁점은 극단적 생태주의 입장에서 인간과 자연의 역할에 대해 고심하고 있는데, 과연 어디까지 자연의 본래적 가치를 인정하고 존중해주어야 할지가 문제이다. 필자는 생태와 인간의 조화를 추구하는 적정선과 그 실천원리를 『중용』에서 찾아보았다. 성리학을 집대성한 주희는 『중용』을 통해 형이상학적 틀을 마련하였다. 『중용』을 자세히 분석해보면, 우주만물과 인간을 일체로 보는 조화적 세계관에 근거한 실천원리들이 잘 드러나 (...) 있다. 중용(中庸)이란 단순히 산술적 중간이 아닌, 지나치거나 부족하지 않은 상태이면서 상황을 잘 헤아려 권도(權度)를 행함으로써 지속성을 유지하는 것을 말한다. 또한 서(恕)의 원리는 생명을 지닌 존재들에 대해 공감하고 존중하는 자세를 지니도록 해준다. 인간의 모든 행위와 자연 섭리의 드러남인 은비(隱費)와 그에 대한 외경(畏敬)의 자세는 생태자연에 대한 원리로서 중요한 시사점을 준다. 소기위행(所其位行)과 자이비(自爾卑)는 일상의 작은 데서부터 실천하는 원리이며, 성(誠)과 성지(誠之)는 자연생태의 원리와 인간의 노력을 강조한 것이다. 생태위기는 인간이 초래한 것으로 결국 그 해답도 인간에게서 찾아야 하며, 그것은 인간중심과 생태중심을 벗어난 이 둘의 조화와 균형, 즉 중용의 원리에 있다고 하겠다. (shrink)

This article looks at Galton's regression to the mean from several traditionally unrelated but interwoven venues: as a law of trait heredity; as a statistical artifact infiltrating careless research designs; as an illustration of cognitive bias. Hereditarians argue for the first of these, disputed by biogeneticists, who view R to M as a mere correlate of generational traits decline. Research designers busy themselves with the second perspective, but to explain the concept, cavalierly adduce various organismic states that sum as (...) "error variance" Research on subjective probability finds R to M in unexpected places. Across these contexts, the weight of argument falls on R to M's confounding rather than causal role in vexing data analysis. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

이글은 도가와 유가의 정신(精神) 관념의 변천과 특징을 들어내기 위한 마지막 작업으로 『대학』과 『중용』의 정과 신의 용법을 소개한다. 이를 위해 『노자』,『장자』, 『회남자』가 보여주는 정신의 용례를 간략하게 정리했다. 우리가 노자, 장자, 회남자라는 인물의 선후관계를 떠나 『노자』, 『장자』, 『회남자』라는 서적의 역사적 발전과정만을 기준으로 본다면, 정과 신이 차지하는 역할이 점차 높아짐을 알 수 있다. 나아가 『회남자』에 이르면 ‘정신’이라는 관념이 드디어 정립되고 있다. 이는 철학사적으로 매우 의미 있는 일이다. 무엇보다도 중요한 것은 육체에 대한 정신의 우위가 이러한 진행을 통해 안정화된다는 사실이다. 신은 정보다 존재가치가 우월해지고, 정신은 (...) 형해를 능가하는 지위를 갖게 된다. 한마디로 정신은 육체보다 앞서는 것이다. 그리고 이러한 판단은 도가철학에서 강조하는 개인, 주체, 자율성, 독립성과 어울리면서 그들의 색채를 다른 학파와 다르게 고유화한다. 공자와 맹자는 어떠했는가? 인간세계에서 그것이 유지되는 사회적 원리나 도덕적 규범을 강조하는 유가답게 그들에게는 개별화될 수 있는 정신보다는 문화적 질서를 표상하는 예(禮)가 강조된다. 『논어』에서는 정이 그저 절구질을 가리키면서 1회 출현에 그치고, 『맹자』에서는 정이 아예 나오지 않는다. 신도 개인의 정신이 아니라 초월적인 귀신을 뜻하거나(특히 공자) 신묘하거나 신비스러움을 가리킨다. 한마디로 그들에게는 정신이 없는 것이다. 그렇다면 11세기 이후 유학의 교본이 된 『대학』과 『중용』에서는 공맹을 넘어서는 용법이 있을까? 『예기』 전편에서 정은 혼을 의미한다. 그러나 『대학』의 정은 정조의 정이고, 『중용』의 정은 『예기』에서처럼 정령의 뜻이 아니라 정미의 정을 뜻한다. 반면, 『예기』 전편의 신은 귀신으로 이해될 수 있는데, 『대학』에는 신이 나오지 않지만 『중용』에서는 『예기』처럼 대체로 귀신을 가리킨다. 이와 같이 『대학』과 『중용』에서도 정신은 독자적인 지위를 갖지 못한다. (shrink)

Previous research described different cognitive processes on how individuals process distributional information. Based on these processes, the current research uncovered a novel phenomenon in distribution perception: the Endpoint Leverage Effect. Subjective endpoints influence distribution estimations not only locally around the endpoint but also influence estimations across the whole value range of the distribution. The influence is largest close to the respective endpoint and decreases in size toward the opposite end of the value range. Three experiments investigate this phenomenon: Experiment 1 (...) provides correlational evidence for the Endpoint Leverage Effect after presenting participants with a numerical distribution. Experiment 2 demonstrates the Endpoint Leverage Effect by manipulating the subjective endpoints of a numerical distribution directly. Experiment 3 generalizes the phenomenon by investigating a general population sample and estimations regarding a real‐world income distribution. In addition, quantitative model analysis examines the cognitive processes underlying the effect. Overall, the novel Endpoint Leverage Effect is found in all three experiments, inspiring further research in a wide area of contexts. (shrink)

Two arguments in Eudemian Ethics 2 that are crucial to Aristotle’s definition of moral virtue as a mean state contain claims that Aristotle says are clear by induction. In these contexts, he explicitly appeals to examples coming from arts and sciences like gymnastic training and medicine for evidence. But Aristotle does not here, or elsewhere (at least in any extant work), including the parallel arguments in the Nicomachean Ethics, actually supply or discuss the evidence that makes these inductive arguments (...) clear. Fortunately, strong support for them can be found in the Hippocratic Corpus, especially in On Ancient Medicine and On Regimen. (shrink)

In this article, we illustrate experimentally an important consequence of the stochastic component in choice behaviour which has not been acknowledged so far. Namely, its potential to produce ‘regression to the mean’ (RTM) effects. We employ a novel approach to individual choice under risk, based on repeated multiple-lottery choices (i.e. choices among many lotteries), to show how the high degree of stochastic variability present in individual decisions can distort crucially certain results through RTM effects. We demonstrate the point in (...) the context of a social comparison experiment. (shrink)

In this paper, we use Saaty's Eigenvector Method and the Power Method as well as Ω=1, 2, ⋯ , 9, 1/2, 1/3, ⋯ , 1/9} and Ω-={1,2, ⋯ ,9,1, 1/2, ⋯ ,1/9} as the sets from which the pairwise comparison judgments are assigned at random to examine the variation in the values determined for the mean random consistency index. By extensive simulation analysis, we found that both methods produce the same values for the mean random consistency random index. (...) Also, we found that the reason for producing two different sets of values is the use of Ω vs. Ω- and not the selection of the Power Method vs. Saaty's Eigenvector Method. (shrink)