Virtue and the Golden Mean

For Aristotle, virtues of character are stable habits of feeling and acting well, developed through practice. We become just by doing just acts and brave by doing brave acts, much as we learn to play an instrument. Each virtue lies at a mean between two vices, one of excess and one of deficiency. Courage lies between cowardice and rashness; generosity between stinginess and wastefulness.

The mean is not a mathematical midpoint but is 'relative to us', depending on the situation, and finding it requires phronesis, or practical wisdom. Some actions, such as murder, have no mean at all; they are simply wrong. Aristotle's approach differs from rule-based ethics because it focuses on what kind of person to become rather than which rule to follow. Critics ask whether it gives clear guidance in hard cases, while supporters value its realism about moral growth.