physiological theory and the doctrine of the mean in plato and aristotle () || v conclusion

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CONCLUSION

The basic notion associated with Aristotle's term μεσάτης has now been studied in the context of the medical writers, Plato's Timaeus, and a wide selection of Aristotle's writings. Since con-clusions have already been formulated at the end of each central chapter, it will suffice to close with a brief recapitulation.

We may recall that several reasons were proposed for studying Aristotle's physiological theory so as to understand better the notion of μεσότης prominent in the Nicomachean Ethics. The suggestion of some earlier studies that the notion was drawn from the Greek medical writers, the recommendation by others of the "biological approach" to Aristotle, the frequent occurrence of physiological analogy in the Ethics and Politics, and particularly Aristotle's use of health as a prime analogue for moral excellence, — all kindled the hope that an investigation of Aristotle's physio-logical theory, gathered from his own writings in the context of contemporary medical literature, might supply some new insight into his ethical and political thought. At the same time, a survey of available Aristotelian scholarship revealed no previous study attempting just such an investigation.

Accordingly, we set out to study the background of Aristotle's physiological theory in earlier or contemporary medical literature. First, Alcmaeon's definition of health and disease was analyzed as a classic expression of these basic notions. His conception of health as a dynamic equilibrium of opposing constituents blended in proportion was found to be a characteristic doctrine of one group of medical authorities cited nominatim by the Menon papy-rus. And this group was linked particularly to Aristotle by the

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CONCLUSION 335

fact that the papyrus quotes Plato first and most prominently

among them. The deference accorded here to Plato as a medical

authority confirmed the presumption that his influence was im-

portant in the formation of Aristotle's thought even in this area,

and suggested that the Timaeus, quoted at length in the papyrus,

deserved special treatment in a separate chapter. Since no primary

sources survive for the study of the other authorities named with

Plato, the investigation then turned to some typical elaborations

of this basic theory in the anonymous works of the Hippocratic

corpus.

Like the authorities cited by the Menon papyrus, the authors

of four representative Hippocratic treatises were found to regard

the organism as a complex of opposing elements. Health prevails

when these elements are properly proportioned so as to balance

or temper each other in equilibrium (μετριότης) and when their

union is stabilized by mixture and blend (κρήσις). This internal

balance must be maintained through proportionate response to

diet and environment; when it is disrupted, so that one element

grows excessive and its opposite deficient, the pain and malfunc-

tion of disease ensue. To restore the equilibrium of health, the

physician must know and reckon with a great variety of factors

— diet, regimen, temperature, locale, seasons of the year, age,

sex, etc. — so as to reduce the excessive element and restore the

deficient in this particular individual. In all details of his treatment

he must "aim at the mean", applying general principles to the

individual case, and judging the effectiveness of his treatment by

the subject's responses of pleasure and pain, which he compares

to the reactions of the healthy organism, his absolute norm. All

things are evaluated according as they maintain, or restore, the

unity, stability, and self-sufficiency of the healthy organism. Hence

the "good" is marked by measure, proportion, moderation, blend-

ing, whatever establishes a "mean condition" of equilibrium in

the body; while all that tends to disrupt this (the disproportionate,

excessive, deficient, sudden, or violent) are "bad".

It is significant that the medical writers, in discussing the factors

affecting the organism as a whole, sometimes verge upon a cos-

mology, or probe into the psycho-physical basis of moral conduct



336 CONCLUSION

and the influence of custom and law. Thus they tend to relate medical treatment through its underlying physiological theory to a total consistent view of man and the universe. This tendency Plato praises in Hippocrates (Phaedrus 270B-D). And he brings it to fulfillment in his Timaeus.

In studying the Timaeus, we found that Plato agrees with the medical writers in conceiving the organism basically as a propor-tionate blend of opposing elements poised in dynamic equilibrium. However, in applying this concept not merely to man's body but to the body and soul of the cosmos, the perfect reproduction of the ideal Living Being, Plato gives it a universal extension nowhere evident in the medical writers. The good and the beautiful in things that come to be are analyzed in terms of measure, proportion, and symmetry. For these join opposing extremes into new unities which operate harmoniously as an equilibrium of opposites. Thus the soul of the cosmos is a mixture of created and non-created Being, blended in proportion, divided according to fixed ratios to form the circles of the Same and the Different, and poised to revolve in perfect equilibrium. The body of the cosmos likewise is formed of opposites, fire and earth, joined by a double μεσάτης through air and water, mixed and blended in proportion according to number and bulk and "power" so that none is excessive or defi-cient. In shape the cosmos is a perfect sphere, its larger components equally balanced about the earth as its center. Embracing all created Being and undisturbed by surrounding environment, it lives on endlessly in inner harmony, subject neither to sickness nor old age.

Since man, the microcosmos, is fashioned according to the same Model as the cosmos, the principle of symmetry, balance, equi-librium of opposites dominates, or should dominate, every aspect of his being also. This, then, is for Plato the characteristic of human excellence. For when all opposing constituents and parts are balanced and blended in dynamic equilibrium, each responds proportionately, performing its proper function in the whole. When his opposing constituents — earth, water, air, and fire — are properly proportioned and blended in each part, man's body grows symmetrically, responds properly to environment, resists



CONCLUSION 337

dissolution, renews itself through nutrition, and enjoys health, strength, and beauty. When the elements of the sense organs are balanced properly, they respond proportionately and function well. When opposing emotions like fear and anger are moderated and balanced, they leave the mortal soul at peace. When all these elements of mortal soul and body are brought to order in balance and harmony, the circles of the intellectual soul are free to operate in equilibrium, giving knowledge and wisdom. When the three parts of the soul are proportionate, each functions properly, the intellectual controlling its opposite, the nutritive, through the mediation of the affective soul, resulting in the inner possession of justice, prudence, fortitude, and temperance. Finally, the proper balance between body and soul in the total human compound renders it in every respect καλός κ'αγαθός. Man is then in the best possible condition, imitating as far as his mortal nature will allow the perfect balance and symmetry of the cosmos.

Thus the basic physiological notion of opposites united by pro-portion in dynamic equilibrium becomes with Plato a universal principle in the formation of things after the likeness of the ideal Living Being. And the more perfect the proportion, blend, and equilibrium of opposites, the more excellent is the condition of the compound, the more closely does it reproduce the unity, sta-bility, and eternity of the Model.

Against this background of Plato and the medical writers, we then took up the study of Aristotle's physiological theory. His notion of health and disease was found to be essentially that of his predecessors, revealing that he too conceives the organism as a compound of opposing constituents blended in proportion. Aristotle sees the proportion of earth, air, fire, and water in each particular organ as related to its function and fixed by the form. Therefore, as long as its proper proportion and blend are main-tained, a part functions naturally and well, i.e. in health; but when its proportion is disrupted by excess and deficiency of one or other element, the organ cannot respond or function properly, so that sickness and dissolution result. Health, then, is that excellence of the body arising from a stable and abiding disposition (εξις) of its opposing constituents, such that, balancing each other in proper



338 CONCLUSION

proportion, they blend to a mean (τό μέσον), forming a μεσάτης,

a middle state or mean condition. And within a certain range the

μεσάτης will differ in each particular organ, depending upon its

nature and function in the whole.

Next, we saw how Aristotle applies the notion of μεσάτης in

describing other aspects of the organism at its best. Thus, the

innate heat necessary to all vital functions must be tempered by

cold to a middle state in which it is neither excessive nor deficient.

This demands a constant balance between the processes of nutri-

tion and refrigeration. And the heart, the center and source of

heat, must be balanced by a brain of proportionate size as center

of cold in the body. Again, the heart, the controlling organ of the

body, the source and center of all vital activity, is located centrally

between front and back, upper and lower, right and left, equally

distant from the opposing parts of the body grouped symmetrically

about it, forming with them a μεσάτης, a balanced distribution of

opposites joined in a μέσον. And in the largest and most perfect

animals the heart is structured as a μεσάτης, the large right cham-

ber in which the blood is hottest and the small left chamber in

which the blood is coldest having a single common source and

center in the middle chamber where the blood is of intermediate

quantity and quality, purest, most tranquil, and best. Similarly,

in every detail the processes of nutrition, growth, and reproduction

are governed by the principle of μεσάτης: extremes proportionately

moderated by their opposites produce the best condition and func-

tion of the organism.

Advancing then to the level of sensation, we saw how Aristotle

solves the problem of perception by applying the notion of μεσά-

της to the particular and central sense powers. Because each of

the particular senses is a kind of μεσάτης informing appropriate

matter, it is capable of responding proportionately to either ex-

treme of its proper sense quality; and because the central sense

power is in form a kind of μεσάτης, it can register and unite in

itself the responses of various particular senses simultaneously.

Again, the heart is found to be, through structure and position,

the proper organ of the central sense power. And response depends

upon the internal disposition. For when its constituents are



CONCLUSION 339

blended properly έν μεσότητι, the sense organ responds propor-

tionately and perception is excellent; when the constituents lose

their proper equilibrium, response is disproportionate and percep-

tion impaired. In this the dynamism implicit in the notion of

μεσότης appears more clearly.

After studying the terms τό μέσον and ή μεσότης in Aristotle's

physiology and sense psychology, we arrived at the central prob-

lem of their application in the Ethics. It was established first that

moral excellence, the excellence of man's "affective soul" or emo-

tional faculties, is explained in the Ethics through the analogy of

health and strength; and Aristotle introduces the notions of συμ-

μετρία and μεσότης as applying to both. The analogy of health

and moral excellence was then followed through in detail. Analysis

revealed that for Aristotle moral excellence, like health, is a cer-

tain έξις of the opposing "powers" (δυνάμεις) which constitute

the moral organism (ήθος). These are the "powers" or faculties

by which man experiences pleasure and pain, the basic drives of

pursuit and avoidance underlying all the various emotions lead-

ing to action. When these "powers" — like the hot, cold, moist,

and dry in the body — are habitually balanced έν μεσότητι, the

moral organism attains its proper state of excellence, ready to re-

spond proportionately, i.e. to "hit the mean" in emotion and ac-

tion, as right reason directs. Furthermore, the μεσότης of moral

excellence, like that of health, is relative to the individual (πρός

ήμας), depending upon age, sex, nature, and function in the com-

munity. Like health, the μεσότης of moral excellence gives unity,

stability, and strength to the moral organism, and its exercise in

virtuous activity becomes pleasurable. For Aristotle, then, the

man of moral excellence (ό σπουδαίος), like the healthy man, be-

comes the norm in that 1) he embodies nature at its best and 2) his

reactions of pleasure and pain manifest what is good and bad for

human nature as such.

To understand the μεσότης of moral excellence concretely and

in relation to the total human organism, we turned next to the

psycho-physical aspect of emotion and moral excellence. The

psychic aspect of pleasure and pain was found to be produced by

the μεσότης of the central sense power, while the physical increase



340 CONCLUSION

of heat accompanying pleasure and the increase of cold coming with pain were traced to the faculty controlling the vital heat in the body. Hence, for Aristotle the center of emotion and move-ment is the heart, the organ of the central sense faculty and of the vital heat. This explains the close interdependence of the nutritive, sense, and emotional faculties, so that deviation from the proper μεσάτης of one brings deviation and disorder in the others. Hence both disordered emotions and disease interfere with the operation of the central sense power in producing accurate images and phantasms, and lead to false judgments. The μεσάτης of moral excellence is necessary, then, not only to keep the emotions poised ready to respond proportionately as reason directs, but also to maintain the inner tranquillity which the central sense power re-quires in serving the intellect.

With this established, we went on to explore the connection between moral excellence and the intellectual virtues. In general, since the intellect in its operations depends extrinsically upon the sense power, the intellect cannot operate unimpeded if unruly emotion disturbs the sense power. Hence the emotional faculties must be ordered in the μεσάτης of moral excellence if sense and intellect are to operate properly. Thus, habitual emotional balance enables the practical intellect to choose the true good (τό καλόν) without the interference of antecedent emotion, which impels man toward the merely pleasurable (τό ήδύ). Without interference of antecedent emotion, perception and judgment are true and the practical intellect indicates the proper means to the end, enjoying the virtue of prudence. Furthermore, the emotions poised έν μεσότητι respond proportionately as prudence directs, issuing in right action. Secondly, the emotional stability of moral excellence is necessary if the speculative intellect is to enjoy its characteristic virtue of wisdom. For the constituents of wisdom are intelligence and knowledge of the highest realities; and psychologically these are a settling down of the mind in the possession of its object. The phantasm presenting the object, then, must be steady and tranquil, produced by a sense power which operates in the stability of health and moral excellence, undisturbed by disease and disordered emo-tion. Thus the μεσάτης of moral excellence contributes to man's



CONCLUSION 341

happiness in that it orders and perfects his emotional powers, assisting his sense power and intellect to operate unimpeded in action and contemplation, so that he enjoys a unity, stability, and tranquil pleasure in the exercise of his highest faculties at their best. Man's condition and activity are then most like those of the Unmoved Mover.

After studying the application of μεσότης in Aristotle's physi-ology, psychology, and ethics, we turned finally to his political theory. Here, underlying the details of the Politics, we detected two natural principles of order basic to Aristotle's physiological theory. First, in any complex organism nature operates according to a principle of subordination in that lower parts and functions serve the higher for the good of the whole. In the political or-ganism, then, the natural order is that one or more men of superior virtue rule, and that their inferiors obey them willingly, to the good of the whole. Thus monarchy and aristocracy are the most natural forms of polis, and monarchy the absolute best according to nature's rule of economy and efficiency. However, Aristotle considers these natural forms inapplicable to most existing pop-ulations because a single leader, or group, of outstanding virtue cannot be found among them. Instead, existing populations are generally split into two opposing factions of free citizens, the numerous poor and the fewer rich, each contributing something equally necessary for the polis, the one its numbers, the other its wealth. The only natural order possible for most existing popula-tions, then, is that which nature uses elsewhere in uniting equal but opposing parts, namely, the order of μεσότης.

This second principle is embodied in polity, a form of govern-ment which mixes and blends the opposing extremes of democracy and oligarchy. It can be realized in a population where the ex-tremes of rich and poor are balanced and blended in a large middle class. Hence it is the natural form to which most existing popula-tions may aspire. De facto, however, many populations are so imperfect that they can sustain only some unnatural or diseased form like democracy, oligarchy, or even tyranny. Each of these violates in progressively greater degree the natural order of sub-ordination and of μεσότης and consequently is marked by greater



342 CONCLUSION

injustice, discontent, civil strife, and instability. However, one of these deviation forms, though bad by absolute standards, may be the best a particular deficient population can attain. It then becomes the relative best, the "best in relation to actual conditions".

Finally, we considered the parallel function of the physician, moral guide, and statesman, their objectives and norms of value. We saw that Aristotle expects these experts to know and, where possible, to produce the absolutely best state of the physical, moral, or political organism. However, in each case this requires the best material, which is rare. The expert will generally have to deal with inferior material, and must bring it as close to the absolutely best condition as its limitations will allow. He must begin with individuals, producing in them the best they can attain, the rela-tive best, though this may fall far short of the absolute best. In this enterprise the reactions of pleasure and pain afford the expert some norms for judging the subjective state of the individual per-son or polis. But in addition he needs an absolute set of norms to evaluate the condition of the individual subject and bring it to a better. This Aristotle provides, proposing as the absolute best in physical condition the μεσότης of constituents in the healthy male organism at its prime; in moral disposition, the μεσότης of his emotional faculties which enables the virtuous man to live by reason in action and contemplation; in political organization, that monarchy in which the citizens dwell together in unity, stability, and justice under a king of surpassing excellence. For in these conditions the physical, moral, and political life of men most closely approximates that of the universal absolute Good, the Unmoved Mover.

In conclusion, then, we have found that when Aristotle applies the term μεσότης to the form, condition, or disposition of the living organism, it implies a dynamic equilibrium of opposing factors blended proportionately in a mean. This condition of the compound is "best" in that it brings unity, internal harmony, sta-bility, and the capacity to respond proportionately. Absolutely "best" is that state of equilibrium maintained by the organism when perfectly formed and operating under optimum conditions. Relatively "best" is that state of equilibrium, approximating the



CONCLUSION 343

absolutely best, which is possible here and now to a particular

organism with less than perfect internal composition and external

conditions. Aristotle employs this principle of μεσότης in explain-

ing the formation and operation of the organism on the physio-

logical, psychological, ethical, and political levels, so that it be-

comes one of his most important fundamental notions. If we must

trace the antecedents of the notion to any one level or area, the

evidence from Plato and the medical writers, as well as Aristotle's

own analogies, suggest that it grew out of a physiological context.



physiological theory and the doctrine of the mean in plato and aristotle () || v conclusion

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