GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

100 ETHICS AND POLITICS! THE GREEKS
the mean figures prominently in Chinese philosophy,
being explicitly advocated both by Confucius and by Lao
Tse. Of an ideal emperor of the Tang dynasty, the Chinese
philosopher Mencius remarked that he "held the mean",
a phrase which he proceeds to develop by saying that the
Emperor "used to listen to two extremes of counsel and
then apply the mean to the people". Describing Chinese
ideals of life, Mr. Lin Yutang 1 claims that to live according
to the mean is "the normal and essential human way of
life".
The virtues of the mean are advocated by the Chinese
in thought no less than in action. Their adherence to
"mean thinking" issues in a hatred of abstract theories,
a disinclination to push chains of argument to their
logical conclusions, and a resolute refusal to apply logic
to life. The characteristic limitations of what Aristotle
calls the practical sciences arc, indeed, regarded by the
Chinese as applying to all forms of human activity, to
human thinking no less than to human feeling. For we
cannot, they say, afford to be logical in thought any more
than we can in life.
To the limitations of logic in relation to life Aristotle
would probably subscribe. He develops his doctrine with
great verve ami applies it with effect to different types
of characters and actions. In the course of this development
he contrives to say a number of illuminating things
about human nature and the weaknesses to which it is
prone. It cannot, however, be said that his applications
of the doctrine of the mean constitute the happiest part
of his writings on ethics. The defect of the doctrine is
that it savours too much of a deliberate and calculating
attitude to life. The "just enough and no more" which
it advocates does not, Aristotle is careful to point out,
imply the same degree of indulgence in relation to every
impulse and every desire. We are required in each case to
find out by the method of trial and error, what is precisely
the "just enough and no more" for ourselves and,
1 See My County and My PfopU, by Lin Yutang, published 1935.