Faculty Colloquium Series: Martin Peterson (PHIL) 4/5/22
"Aristotle and the Virtues: How should we understand the doctrine of the mean"
We welcome your attendance in GLAS 311 or online via Zoom
Meeting ID: 982 4121 4995
Passcode: Peterson
“Aristotle and the Virtues: How should we understand the doctrine of the mean?”
Tuesday, April 5, 2022 | 4-5pm
We welcome your attendance in GLAS 311
Or online via Zoom
Zoom Meeting information:
Meeting ID: 982 4121 4995
Password: Peterson
Dr. Martin Peterson
Professor, Department of Philosophy, 2021-22 Glasscock Faculty Research Fellow
Abstract:
The standard interpretation of the doctrine of the mean, defended by Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics, is that moral virtues vary along a single dimension. You can have too much of a character trait, or too little, but what you ought to strive for is the mean between deficiency and excess. Being generous is, for instance, the mean between being stingy and being wasteful. In this talk I explore the hypothesis that the doctrine of the mean should be understood as a claim about variation along two dimensions, not one. If true, this has significant implications for how agents who are not yet fully virtuous should adjust their charcater traits. The key premise of the project is that meaning tracks use and that we can adjudicate whether virtues vary along one or two dimensions by studying how virtue terms are used in our language.
The Faculty Colloquium offers faculty an opportunity to discuss a work-in-progress with faculty and graduate students from different disciplines. By long-standing practice, colloquium presenters provide a draft of their current research, which is made available to members of the Glasscock Center listserv. Each colloquium begins with the presenter’s short (10-15 minute) exposition of the project, after which the floor is open for comments and queries. The format is by design informal, conversational, and interdisciplinary.
The paper is available to members of the Center’s listserv, or by contacting the Glasscock Center by phone at (979) 845-8328 or by e-mail at glasscock@tamu.edu.
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