The Virtuous Middle Path is Not Centrist
From courage, to values, to science, half-way between two wrongs will never make a right
One of my clearest memories in my Ancient Ethics class was the demonstration of a true virtue. Virtue is defined by the Greek philosophers of antiquity (primarily Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle) as that which is an INTRINSIC good, an end in itself. Non-virtue, on the other hand, involves those human actions and qualities that, though sometimes laudable (i.e. self-control), are nevertheless INSTRUMENTS to some other higher end.
The best example of this distinction is the notion of courage. I believe it was Aristotle who pointed out the the opposite of cowardice (the unthinking running away from a fight) was NOT courage but rather “rashness”, the unthinking running INTO a fight. In other words, if you can’t swim, it is probably not a good idea to plunge into deep water to rescue a person. That would be rash.
The same logic can be applied to social policy, mask mandates and political candidates. “The lesser of two evils” is never something the Greeks would have countenanced. Rashness and cowardice are both deplorable precisely because they are both unthinking, emotionally driven (what the Greeks called the “passions” or the “appetites”), and entirely reactive. They lack self- and other-awareness and real, conscious, gut-check choices and trade-offs.
There is no mindful “centrist” position between any two mindless non-virtuous extremes, whether they be cowardice and rashness or another devil’s bargain. There is an ELEVATED “fine middle” above cowardice and rashness called COURAGE. If one can imagine a regular triangle: The the apex point is virtue (i.e. courage), and the bottom baseline is the spectrum of vice having cowardice on one end and rashness on the other. Every “balanced” variety and mixture of these two vices is still very-much-vice even if it exists in the “center” of the baseline between those two extremes. In other words, moderation of vice does not equal achievement of virtue.
One cannot simply be on team “politically correct” braying as to some “ism” around every corner, nor on team “intolerant” braying about how traditional values are the only true values and we’ve simply got to get back to them. Both are unthinking and non-virtuous. And yet society at large seems disposed to force its citizens and voters into analogous warring, vicious camps.
We can do much better than this. We can be virtuous by pursuing perennial and intrinsic values, and REFUSING to engage in hype, fear, exaggeration, self-righteousness and other such appetites. It is interesting that, as someone generally described as “progressive”, I find myself having quite a bit of solidarity with cultural conservatives and libertarians over the protection of individual choice (including medical freedom and the judicious use of guns) and an insistence on personal responsibility. On the other hand, using the same logic, I also have solidarity with liberals (including the right to an abortion up to a certain point in the term and the necessity of socially responsible environmental and economic policy).
What binds all these values from across the political spectrum? They are all rooted in virtue. They are ends in themselves. By contrast, what does the “Make America Great Again” hype share in common with “transgender rights trump every other right?” They are self-involved vices. They are instrumental, not intrinsic. They seek power over others, and they seek to make themselves the anointed authorities over what is good, rather than serving the good inclusively, with courage and kindness, and an open heart and mind.
Which brings me to an update on my last essay in which I compassionately appealed to the virtuous instincts of the school board, faculty, and staff of a local “progressive” school to support “compassionate mask choice.” They are considering requiring masks on kids and teachers. My son was set to attend, and we were both excited. Now he won’t attend if they hand down the non-virtuous and non-scientific choice to mandate masks. Apparently the decision will come at the next school board meeting. I don’t even know if the meeting is public. I suspect it is not. I can only wish better angels prevail.
As it turns out, mask-wearing and Covid vaccine-taking, for all the “virtue signaling” around them, have shown themselves to not be virtues at all. Though the argument could be made theoretically at one point that they protect others (true “care” being a virtue) , we know now that masks do next to nothing in the face of hyper-transmissible Covid variants and mRNA vaccines have actually backfired and not only harmed those young people they were meant to protect, but actually INCREASE the chances for older people of getting Covid after a very short period of increased immunity (something called “negative vaccine efficacy”).
So let’s use the virtues of courage, real care, and good sense to reconcile these with that other virtue of medical freedom. Let’s take a deep breath, and not only accept but stick up for each others’s choices as expression of our own values and our own learning. “We will not discriminate, masked or unmasked, vaccinated or unvaccinated, black or white, male or female, and all the other wonderful varieties and frequencies of human existence.”
Let’s combine our strengths to heal the wounded (including those harmed by vaccines, left disabled by Covid itself, and those incurring job losses, prejudice, and banishment because they have refused vaccines). Let us come together over communities of care to embrace those marginalized in a winner-take-all society and help one another salve our wounds and realize our dreams. This does NOT require agreement. It just requires respect and a willingness to learn from other people and see them as valuable.
The best way to do this is to say unequivocally. “I support you. ‘Free and informed choice’ is a universal virtue, and you and I share a commitment to ensure that your and my chosen paths remain central.” We will not hide in the arms of a blithe “centrism,” which avoids the fight, and which masquerades as reasonableness but exposes itself as tokenism, obscuring rather than evoking what we hold in common as human beings. From this virtuous foundation, we will discover not only tolerance, but a measure of appreciation for each other, and we will effectively depreciate the currency of fear, distrust, and hatred.
There is something higher and more virtuous, and it is time we reach for it… individually and together.
The Virtuous Middle Path is Not Centrist
Excellent article; provocative. (Halfway between the two extremes of cowardess and rashness is only vice, indeed. Such is a passage defined, and courage, the path of such virtue. Centrist, capitalist, communist... Perhaps subconsciously, the human has not yet learned that malformed ideas might simply represent the manifestation of a rash, maladaptive, misdirected competition to form community. Courage of truth and forgiveness, to serve compass).