The Path to Character

Aristotle and the road to a flourishing life

Mind Candy is a newsletter on practical philosophy and human flourishment—aka how to live “the good life.” Each month we tackle a new theme.

This month we’re exploring the theme of Morality.

You can catch up on last week’s articles by clicking below:

A Stand for Justice

Character is our destiny, the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus wrote. The fate of our lives depends on the moral quality of our being.

In ancient times, the word character was used to describe engraving or imprinting onto something. Aristotle used it to describe the moral traits one possesses and uses to bring forth a good life.

To Aristotle, character was something that came about because we had a “deliberate moral choice” for our lives—how we chose to respond to everyday quandaries we face. Character, then, emerges from the ethical actions we take in response to the situations we face.

These moral questions are answered, according to Aristotle, by how well we utilize our virtues. The individual is "concerned with choice, lying in a mean, i.e., the mean relative to us, this being determined by reason, and by that reason by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.”

Aristotle’s golden mean advised that each situation call for a different level of engagement with different virtues. Just as each scenario calls for a different tool, each situation we encounter allows us to practice different virtues.

But just because something is a virtue, such as courage, doesn’t make it good at all times. One can easily become overly courageous which could lead to harm for oneself, likewise, refusing to be courageous is just as bad. As Aristotle writes:

“We can experience fear, confidence, desire, anger, pity, and generally any kind of pleasure and pain either too much or too little, and in either case not properly. But to experience all this at the right time, toward the right objects, toward the right people, for the right reason, and in the right manner--that is the median and the best course, the course that is a mark of virtue.”

We must use our wisdom in a practical way to determine what the right response is to each situation. It requires deliberate attention to the scenario and strong understanding of how our choices impact our situation, and in turn, ourself.

“In matters concerning action and questions of what is beneficial, the agent must consider on each different occasion what the situation demands, just as in medicine and in navigation."

We must look at the situation at hand and determine how best to respond. As he continued elsewhere, "A man of practical wisdom [must] take cognizance of particulars.”

We must make deliberate efforts in our choices and actions. It is not as simple as saying, ‘I am an adult and can make the right choice.’ Rather, we need repetitive practice in different areas of virtue—courage, justice, etc—and making proper responses to those situations where we learn how to respond so that it is not just the right thing to do, but forms a habit for future encounters with the situation.

A life well lived is one lived over and over again, constantly practicing and refining a virtuous way of life, responding to scenarios in and out of our control with precision and appropriate action. Practical wisdom has always been a cornerstone to living a flourishing life across most philosophical schools because its focus is always on ensuring we are training ourselves to answer the call and take correct action.

So making the proper decision begins with forming the proper habits. Too many of the decisions we make in life are driven by prior experience. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. But this means that the decisions we make, such as being courageous in a situation that calls for it, requires we practice the virtue.

Aristotle stated we master the virtues and the mean (or balance) of them by habitually doing them. As he states about the moral virtues, "we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit."

We learn to make appropriate choices through situational reflection, model envisionment, and continual education.

As David Brooks wrote in The Road to Character:

“If you act well, eventually you will be good. Change your behavior and eventually you rewire your brain.”

Virtue requires we engage with the external world, both on a basis with others as well as with our surroundings. Others help provide guidance, instruction, and feedback. They also help make us whole as we as human beings are not islands on our own but part of a larger connective web of relations to others.

We also must be willing to explore the world we inhabit, learning to take risks and overcome fear. By doing so, we allow ourselves an opportunity to practice courage and overcome fear.

But beyond that, we better explore the world we inhabit and the talents we possess. By trying something and actually enjoying it, or having a talent for it, we provide ourselves an opportunity to learn and master it, stretching ourselves far beyond what we may have been had we never tried to begin with.

If we work to build our own individual character, we are, in the process, beginning to make more morally correct decisions because of the virtues that support one’s moral character. The decisions no longer revolve around ‘what do I want,’ rather, they become ‘what is best for the situation? For all involved?’ In turn, we begin to flourish because we’re not only making decisions that impact our own lives, but all those around us.

And by doing so, we set an example for others.

We all have that one person—or if we’re lucky, multiple people—who are just different, they hold a different quality about themselves. They are almost angelic in that they don’t complain, they do what’s right, they push on in hard times, regardless of what life throws at them. They are the quiet soldiers of life, constantly striving for more and better, for what’s right for the world.

These are the examples of character we should keep in mind, the ones who were able to master the art of living, no matter what life threw at them.

Human flourishment is not about the houses we live in or the cars we drive, it’s not about the jobs we work, it’s about the way we make the right decisions, in the right situations, at the right time.

These decisions are built around virtue and a virtuous life is a flourishing one.

It is the good life.

Before you go…

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Until next time,

D.A. DiGerolamo

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