Still thinking about virtue ethics.

Aristotle's proposed goal in virtue ethics is to achieve eudaimonia, which is a long term contentment with the course of one's life, but also a state of human flourishing. A eudaimon life is a life with few regrets, in which one reaches the full potential that could be expected for what one is.

My Ethics prof likes to use the example of a rosebush. A rosebush that is flourishing has green leaves, many blooms, and is healthy and vibrant etc. It is the best for what you could expect of a rosebush. It isn't, as he likes to say, "bionic"-- it isn't some sort of unnaturally enabled rosebush that can walk around and do stuff rosebushes don't normally do. The rosebush needs certain conditions to get it to a flourishing state-- it needs the right amount of water, the right kind of soil, the right amount of sunlight, and so on.

A rosebush cannot flourish if it gets the same amount of sunlight that would be best for a fern. It also cannot flourish if it gets the same amount of water as a cactus. In the former scenario there is excess, and in the latter there is deficiency. It is necessary to find the golden mean between the states of excess and deficiency. This golden mean is virtue.

Aristotle felt that humans were uniquely capable of reason. To reach our full potential we need to make use of that and reason well. We�re reasoning well when we determine where the golden mean is for us-- when we figure out where virtue lies.

To become a virtuous person you need to practice virtue. Another example my prof used was someone who plays a musical instrument. There are good violin players and bad violin players. How do you become a good violin player? By practicing, yes, but not just by practicing. You have to practice playing well. You could play violin eight hours a day and still be a bad violin player if you practice badly.

I think when I first decided I wanted to be the best person I could be, I went a little overboard with some things, but I've been figuring out where a good middle ground is. Like, I realized some point along the way that trying to be 100% selfless wasn't going to work because if I didn't spend at least some time on myself, I wouldn't be healthy enough to effectively support other people. Just trying to make sure I don't slide back though...

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