Aristotle's style of creating spectrums to define various virtuous or unvirtuous qualities of people really drives home how important it is to master the art of self control. Many times throughout history, division and chaos have been caused by those who do not exercise proper control over their feelings. One quality of utmost importance that can really cost someone quite a bit is their temper. Though at times it is best to let anger or rage motivate us to accomplish a positive goal, it is often this same temper that causes children to smash toys, fights to break out in the stands of sports events such as the NBA's Malice at the Palace in 2004, and rioters and looters to annihilate entire blocks on city streets. What does having a good temper look like? Aristotle makes his answer clear:
"The man who is angry at the right things and with the right people, and, further, as he ought, when he ought, and as long as he ought, is praised. This will be the good-tempered man, then, since good temper is praised. For the good-tempered man tends to be unperturbed and not to be led by passion, but to be angry in the manner, at the things, and for the length of time, that the rule dictates; but he is thought to err rather in the direction of deficiency; for the good-tempered man is not revengeful, but rather tends to make allowances." (Aristotle, 40).
That last line is quite the revealer of the difference in philosophy that people like Aristotle had versus the consensus of Athens at the time. Vengeance not being a good-tempered response, thereby negating it as a responsible action really differs from the custom of wronging someone who has wronged your family that Athens seemed to endorse. I personally would argue that being teaching the young and growing good self control and temperance would eliminate more than half the problems we currently face in today's "modern" society. That is not to say that we would have to make the younger generations Vulcan-like with their emotions, but developing a good temper would allow someone who has it to think rationally even under emotional pressure.
p.s. I commented on Hailey Morgan's and Braylan's posts.
Learning how to control anger is definitely an important skill to possess. I will say, however, that there are some people who, instead of expressing sadness, will instead resort to getting frustrated. These people think that crying is a form of weakness and because of this, allow themselves to suppress their sorrows until they bubble over as full-force fury.
ReplyDeleteIt is for this reason why I believe we much teach children how to properly deal with all of their emotions. By only focusing on certain ones (ones that society has deemed as 'bad' or 'innapropriate'), we are essentially setting them up for failure.
Absolutely, what are some ways we could go about teaching a child a good temper and proper "feeling". Can feelings be improper or wrong? Are feelings ever bad in themselves?
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