Ecocentricity Blog: All Things in Moderation
So what’s the problem? If some algae are good (very good), isn’t it better to have even more? Nope.
Aristotle was a cool dude. Wicked smart, and he had a heck of a beard, at least according to the artist Raphael. Just take a look at The School of Athens fresco. That’s Aristotle in the middle with the blue robe, next to the rather unkempt Plato. What a dashing man.
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who studied under Plato in the 300s BC. One of Aristotle’s classic philosophies was known as the “golden mean.” This principle essentially states that, in the face of two opposite extremes, the middle point between the two is generally the most desirable.
Today, the concept can be found in many different places. In religious traditions, Confucianism calls it the “Doctrine of the Mean” and Buddhism calls it the “Middle Path.” In clichés, we find it in the phrase “all things in moderation.” In modern fairy tales, we find it in “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”
I’ve been reminded of the golden mean in the wake of Florida’s recent struggles with algal blooms.
