Talk:Golden mean (philosophy)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	Philosophy Portal This article is within the scope of the WikiProject Philosophy, which collaborates on articles related to philosophy. To participate, you can edit this article or visit the project page for more details.
Start	This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.
???	This article has not yet received an importance rating on the importance scale.
Additional information: Related task forces (core areas): Ethics Related task forces (periods): Ancient philosophy

It looks like the philosophical (or at least non-mathematical) aspect of the golden mean finally got separated out (from what is now Golden ratio) into its own page. This article still needs a lot of work and cleaning up. Any help would be appreciated. WhiteC 07:42, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 To Do 2 Aristotle 3 This article is in violation of the GFDL license 4 The golden mean as a fallacy

[edit] To Do

I think the intro should just explain the general concept of the golden mean, and note that different philosophers used it differently. Mention applications in Ethics and Aesthetics. I think the Golden Rectangle paragraph should be cut out & pasted into Golden Ratio (if they want it).

The subsection 'Golden Mean in Philosophy' should be expanded so it is the main article. It already treats Greek philosophers' uses of the golden mean in historical order. A section on the Pythagoreans with their mathematical mysticism and ties to the Golden Ratio could go in there. Aristotle's usage needs to be written up a little more too. WhiteC 04:47, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

This bit (from the old article) could be of use

"Golden mean in art

In architecture, the golden mean is the ideal relationships of mass and line which the Greeks perfected over time. Moreover, they found that architecture and art that incorporate this feature are more pleasing to people. This finds its perfection in the Parthenon. This can be compared to one of the first examples of Greek temple building, the temple of Poseidon at Paestum, Italy as it is squat and unelegant. The front of the Parthenon with its triangular pediment fits inside a golden rectangle. The divine proportion and its related figures were incorporated into every piece and detail of the Parthenon.

The Triumphal Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum, both in Rome, are great examples ancient use of golden relationships in architecture.

Phidias, a famous ancient Greek sculptor, incorporated the Golden Mean in all his work."

WhiteC 04:51, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

The keats quote is gratuitous and inappropriate. user:Evan 0007 6 may 2008 EST —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.16.37.92 (talk) 04:07, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Aristotle

Shouldn't this page have much more emphasis on Aristotle? Other Greek philosophers may have used the concept to some extent, but isn't it overwhelmingly Aristotle's idea? He discusses his theory of the mean extensively in Nicomachean Ethics. --Jcbutler 17:13, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] This article is in violation of the GFDL license

Wikipedia's practice of complete deletion of articles[31] without reference to the original article, the author(s)/publisher(s) of the article, and the history and title(s) of the article, including modification history, description and appropriate dates, is a direct violation of at least GFDL version 1.2. Not only that, but the GFDL License states that if the article/document contains Copyright notices, that said notices must be preserved at all times. If those notices are removed, then they are in violation of Copyright Law, as well as the terms of the GFDL license. Furthermore, the question of them removing anything outright at all comes into quite a grey area. If one reads the GFDL License literally, then it implies that once the article document is posted, it is in distribution, and technical measures are not allowed to be taken to prevent the use of the document in question, and that no other conditions whatsoever can be added by you to those of the GFDL license.[32][33]

This page was once a Redirect page. I turned it into an Article. I created this Article. My work still appears on this article's page but the history is lost the New Redirect page. What someone has done is deleted the info, made the Redirect page and then copied the info from the old page into a new one with new history. Instead, the Page should have been moved Renamed, and then a Redirect made!WHEELER 01:12, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The golden mean as a fallacy

No mention of this as a fallacy? Richard001 (talk) 01:16, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure that Aristotle's use of 'the mean' is comparable to the Golden Mean fallacy; although this article doesn't make this clear. Choosing 'the mean' is not simply a case of choosing the middle option, but the one applicable to the agent himself, i.e it is a subjective mean. Equally, it's not always the best choice (Aristotelian ethics are not fixed absolutes) - you still have to give appropriate deliberation to making the good choice. 82.32.198.119 (talk) 18:58, 7 May 2008 (UTC)