Too Much of a Good Thing: When Strengths Become Weaknesses
Aristotle’s golden mean and viewing our qualities for what they are
If you were to ask someone to write down their top 5 strengths and their top 5 weaknesses, what are the chances that the lists will relate to each other?
Some human qualities are generally accepted as positive ones. Generosity. Honesty. Courage. Kindness. These are characteristics that we inherently assume are part of ‘goodness’; qualities we strive to instil in our children as they grow up. But is it a simplification to think that our strengths will always operate in our favour?
In ancient philosophy, Aristotle famously conceptualised the ‘golden mean’. The idea is that too much or too little of a virtue is problematic, and we should instead strive towards the middle. The old version of seeking out the porridge that’s ‘just right’. Many Greco-Roman philosophers warn of the dangers of excess and advocate for temperance, so perhaps this is not surprising.
Different ends of the pendulum
What might this look like in practice?
Let’s take courage as an example. Aristotle would argue that too little courage would result in someone being cowardly. Fair call. In the modern day, we could assert…
