What Is Aristotle's Idea Behind The Golden Mean?

“The Flight of Icarus” is about Daedalus and his son, Icarus, trying to escape a labyrinth . Daedalus made wings from feathers and wax to escape. Daedaus told Icarus to no go to high into the sky or too low but then Icarus went to high up and the wax started melting. Icarus didn't pay attention to Daedalus about staying in a moderate flight zone, and then he fell in the ocean and drowned. I would encourage you to not take risks, and if you still won't listen then remember what happened to Icarus.

Shaffer, the poem uses nature against Icarus. This poem is about what it would be like to be Icarus while he was taking his last breath. Was Icarus mad? Was he blaming his father? Was he regretful? These were all questions that were addressed throughout the poem. The mythical poem states, “Watching white feathers flutter upward, curse the wax as a fair weathered friend… Did he rail at the sun… he laughed, and admitted that even had he known of the many failings of fathers and feathers, he would have done it anyway” (Shaffer 20). This piece of evidence displays the importance of Icarus flying to close to the sun and dying. It shows how he killed himself along with the nature. The nature of the myth and poem plays the role of freedom and death. The feathers signify freedom because of being able to flutter and fly, while the sun signifies death and misfortune. Even though Icarus died, he died being the adventurous foolish person he is. With nature not on his side, it shows how when you do not follow rules, you may end up being in serious trouble even if it was fun. If you get too senseless, you can end up having a big problem. Overall, in the poem “Icarus” by Wendy A. Shaffer, nature is the root of Icarus’

In the story “The Flight of Icarus” at first when his father had made him wings he was cautious about learning to fly. He knew that if he flew too close to the ocean the water would make his wings wet and heavy. He also knew that if he flew too close to the sun that the heat would melt the wax holding the feathers of his wings into place. When his father first said that when he would teach him he was cautious but then as he got used to it and took his freedom for granted. He had flown too close to the sun and “The blazing sun beat down on the wings and floated softly down, warning Icarus to stay his flight and glide the earth.”

In order to achieve this final, we need to live a virtuous life according to the Golden mean, which is finding the middle grounds of the virtues we live by. Aristotle explains that we should continuously act in accordance with virtues, which are acquired from our upbringing and experiences. Because Aristotle believed in teleology, he said that by aiming our actions toward an end (happiness), our souls need to work in the way of excellence.

-The Landscape with the Fall of Icarus: By giving Icarus the ability to fly, he has a freedom unfathomed by most. This freedom is too much for someone to handle and he does even what he is told not to, by flying close to the sun.

Using the myth of Icarus, the speaker establishes the importance of myths in her relationship with her father and the lessons that follow them as they mature.

The mythology story about Icarus using his homemade wings to fly to freedom. Icarus and his father are stuck in some sort of prison. With him and his son’s lives on the line, Icarus’s father built two pairs of wings to fly away with. He told his son to wait five minutes after he left so that he could make sure that the wings worked properly and he told Icarus not to fly to high because the wings would melt and if he flew too low, the feathers would get wet. Icarus did listen to his father and he fell to his death. The wings represented flying to freedom.

With this quote, it shows Icarus’ immaturity, foolish and playfulness when it comes to his father’s inventions and his life. Icarus is a young boy which is evident from the quote above because he is playing with the wax and watching and admiring his dad. If it was an older boy, he’d probably be off by himself or helping his father with his inventions instead of playing with the wax in the wings. Icarus is an innocent boy who doesn’t understand the importance of being responsible. Not being responsible leads him to his death, which could have been avoided if he had paid attention to what his father had told him. Icarus got swept up in the moment when he was flying, and lost all of his thoughts which lead him to the mistake of flying too high.

Aristotle’s thoughts on ethics conclude that all humans must have a purpose in life in order to be happy. I believe that some of the basics of his ideas still hold true today. This essay points out some of those ideas.

Virtue ethics is a concept that is used in the process of moral decision making. It is dependent on the individuals themselves rather than on society, culture and religion. Aristotle was one of the main philosophers involved in virtue ethics. He was an advocate for virtue. Virtue ethics are associated with the type of person that one should become. It is solely concerned with human nature and morals. This essay will explore Aristotle’s conception of virtue. I will discuss Aristotle’s belief that virtue ethics are vital in achieving the ultimate goal of happiness. I will further consider and examine his theory of the Doctrine of the Mean. Finally, I will explore how Aristotle distinguishes between the two kinds of virtues and this will result

Around 60 BCE, the ancient Greek writer Diodorus wrote the story of Icarus, in which the son of Daedalus ignored his father’s warnings, and after flying too close to the sun plunged to his death as the wax holding his wings together melted. While the story incorporates themes of human nature and curiosity, it more importantly conveys a lesson of unchecked ambition. Whether it is for wealth or a better future, humans tend to strive for what is best for themselves in life. Unfortunately, unchecked ambition often ends with poor results, as seen in the story of Icarus. Centuries later, ambition remains a prominent theme in literature, and authors have utilized this natural human trait in countless stories and novels. Two authors who do so are Charles Dickens in his book Great Expectations, and M.L. Stedman in The Light Between Oceans. In both novels, unchecked ambition affects different characters negatively.

To find out what the function of a human being is, Aristotle looks at what is distinctive about humans. He discovers that the good of the human is to act in accord with reason well, which can translate into acting in accord with virtue. One cannot have happiness without virtue, just as it is impossible to be virtuous with the absence of rational thinking. Because man is a rational creature, rather than plants which are vegetative, happiness for man must include the excellent functioning of the rational faculties.

One of Aristotle’s conclusions in the first book of Nicomachean Ethics is that “human good turns out to be the soul’s activity that expresses virtue”(EN 1.7.1098a17). This conclusion can be explicated with Aristotle’s definitions and reasonings concerning good, activity of soul, and excellence through virtue; all with respect to happiness.

Virtue ethics was written by a Greek philosopher names Aristotle. Aristotle believed that every human’s goal was happiness. Some philosophers argued that happiness only came from following a set of rules, while Aristotle argued that the best way to have happiness is to cultivate a virtuous character. The two kinds of virtues he recognized were moral virtue and intellectual virtue. The virtue that should be focused on to develop a virtuous character is moral virtue. According to Aristotle, while we are born with a capacity to be virtuous, being virtuous is like a skill that we need to learn and practice to be good at. The key element to being virtuous is being able to find the mean or right amount of our various emotions, dispositions, and actions. Aristotle wrote: “Anybody can become angry- that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for

In the ancient Greek story of Icarus, Daedalus constructs a pair of wings made out of wax and feathers for himself and his son Icarus to escape the Labyrinth in Crete. In their attempt to overcome their human limitations, Icarus fails to obey his father's only rule: do not fly too close to the sun. He reaches too far and the wax on his wings melts, causing him to plummet to his death. This is often thought to illustrate the consequences humans must face when overreaching and trying too hard to do what they are not meant to do. Icarus’s failure to listen to common sense is synonymous with the failure of the humans to listen to Jake Sully in Avatar. The humans cause the “death” of any relationship with the Na’vi due to their own negligence.