An instrument

The Golden Mean

Every virtue sits between two vices. Find where you actually stand.

Aristotle’s claim in the Nicomachean Ethics is that virtue is not the opposite of vice. It sits between two of them. Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the distance between cowardice and recklessness. Honesty is not maximum disclosure, it is the distance between deceit and tactlessness. The mean is not a midpoint you calculate. It is a judgment you make, and it moves depending on who you are and what the moment asks.

Drag each marker to where you think you actually sit, not where you would like to. Then read what you drew. The point is not the shape. The point is which ones you hesitated over.

Courage

CowardiceExcessive fear, avoiding all risk

RecklessnessFoolhardy disregard for danger

Temperance

Self-indulgenceSlave to pleasures and desires

InsensibilityDenying all pleasure, joyless

Justice

UnfairnessTaking more than one’s share

Over-scrupulousnessParalyzed by fairness concerns

Wisdom

FoolishnessActing without reflection

Over-calculationAnalysis paralysis, never acting

Generosity

StinginessHoarding, unwilling to give

ProdigalityGiving recklessly, to your own harm

Patience

IrritabilityQuick to anger, easily frustrated

PassivityNever standing up for oneself

Honesty

DeceitLying, manipulation, hiding truth

TactlessnessBrutal honesty that harms

Humility

ArroganceOverestimating one’s worth

Self-deprecationDenying one’s genuine value

Write

Which virtue was hardest to place, and why? Pick one where you sit closer to the excess than the deficit, and describe what it costs you. Aristotle argues character is built by habit rather than intention. What habit would move one marker?

Nothing here is recorded, scored, or sent anywhere. This page has no storage and no server. Reload it and it forgets.