Golden mean philosophy: Encyclopedia II - Golden mean philosophy - History of the golden mean in philosophy

Golden mean philosophy - History of the golden mean in philosophy

Golden mean philosophy - Crete

The earliest representation of this idea in culture is probably in the mythological Cretan tale of Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus, a famous artist of his time, built feathered wings for himself and his son so that they might escape the clutches of King Minos. Daedalus warns his son to "fly the middle course", between the sea spray and the sun's heat. Icarus did not heed his father; he flew up and up until the sun melted the wax of his wings, and he fell to his death.

Golden mean philosophy - Delphi

Another early elaboration is the pithy laconic Doric saying carved on the front of the temple at Delphi: "Nothing in Excess".

Golden mean philosophy - Pythagoreans

According to legend, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras discovered the concept of harmony when he began his studies of proportion while listening to the different sounds made when blacksmiths' hammers hit their anvils. The weights of the hammers and of the anvils all gave off different sounds. From here he moved to the study of stringed instruments and the different notes they produced. He started with a single string and produced a monochord in the ratio of 1:1 called the Unison. By varying the strings, he produced other chords: a ratio of 2:1 produced notes an octave apart. (Modern music theory calls a 5:4 ratio a "major third" and an 8:5 ratio a "major sixth".) In further studies of nature, he observed certain patterns and numbers reoccurring. Pythagoras believed that beauty was associated with ratios of small integers.

With this discovery, the Pythagoreans saw the essence of the cosmos as numbers, so numbers took on special meaning and significance. Astonished by this discovery and awed by it, the Pythagoreans endeavored to keep it secret: they vowed that anyone who revealed the secret would be put to death.

The symbol of the Pythagorean brotherhood was the pentagram, the proportions of which embody the golden ratio.

Golden mean philosophy - Socrates

Socrates teaches that a man "must know how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible".

In education, Socrates asks what effect an exclusive devotion to gymnastic or the exclusive devotion to music. It either "produced a temper of hardness and ferocity, (or) the other of softness and effeminacy". But having both will produce harmony, hence beauty and the good. Furthermore, he stresses the importance of mathematics in education as teaching beauty and truth in men.

Golden mean philosophy - Plato

Something disproportionate was evil and therefore to be despised. Plato says, "If we disregard due proportion by giving anything what is too much for it; too much canvas to a boat, too much nutriment to a body, too much authority to a soul, the consequence is always shipwreck."

In the Laws, Plato applies this principle to electing a government in the ideal state: "Conducted in this way, the election will strike a mean between monarchy and democracy …"

Golden mean philosophy - Aristotle

In the Eudemian Ethics, Aristotle writes on the virtues. His constant phrase is, "… is the Middle state between …". His psychology of the soul and its virtues is based on the golden mean between the extremes. In the Politics, Aristotle critizes the Spartan Polity by critiquing the disproportionate elements of the constitution; i.e. they trained the men and not the women and they trained for war but not peace. This disharmony produced difficulties which he elaborates on.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History of the golden mean in philosophy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki