← Chapter 5
Applied Ethics · Chapter 5

The Mean Calibrator

Each virtue of character sits between an excess and a deficiency — but the mean is relative to us, not an arithmetic midpoint. Pick a sphere of experience, dial the feeling up or down, then change who you are and where you are standing and watch the virtuous window slide. Two of the spheres are traps: Aristotle says they admit of no mean at all.

1 · Choose a sphere of experience

2 · Who you are, and where you are standing

3 · How much you feel and act

The scale

A scale from deficiency through the mean to excess The green window marks the virtuous range for the situation you selected. The marker shows where your setting lands, and the pale band shows how far you wobble on a bad day.