The Middle-Ground

[philmosophy]

Towards the end yesterday's post, I was asking about the middle-ground. What is it about extremes that curtails us from the middle-ground? What is so unattractive about it? In my philosophy & film class, we began reading Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed. In the section of the book titled And What is Virtue?, virtue is defined in one

Comments

[iaaphoto]

I think it's true that people are attracted to the romance of excess, and I feel excess includes religious flagellation, extreme conservativeness, eco-terrorism, etc. We constantly consider people who go to the edge for their ideas and ideals to be heroic. I think most people are somewhere in the middle though, and somewhat comfortable with it.

excess

[sophrosune16]

Thanks for getting back to this, bringing this up. When I was reading the Boal section on virtue I kept thinking of this Greek idiom, which I won't insult by writing the Greek transcription into English, but it means 'nothing in excess' or 'all things in moderation'. 'Nothing in excess' is a little closer to the actual Greek, the second being something we spout in modern contexts. If you're curious about the Greek I can show you in class. I love this idea, and think about it often, even before I realized that it was their concept of virtue. I try to live this way, it at least provides an interesting look at what it is like to try and live this way while you do it, if you cannot fully achieve it. There is so much to say about extremes in American culture, particularly Conspicuous consumption is of interest to me here (Thorstein Veblen, an Anthropologist), but we rarely think of the 'middle' of our culture, the 'normal'. I think the very idea that I'm analyzing an entire country of people instead of thinking of individuals awful,