3 ms·
I think that's a reference to the Greek notion of Arete. To be a good person didn't mean moral good, or excellence in one area like art - it meant being a grea
by nonrandomstring 5y ago
I think that's a reference to the Greek notion of Arete.
To be a good person didn't mean moral good, or excellence in one
area like art - it meant being a great as an "all round person who
lived their life to the full and exercised all human powers". The art
of being a great _person_. You didn't have to be amazing at any one
thing but, for a Greek citizen one should able to:
Farm, hunt and cook a good meal
Master a sword or bow
Sail a boat and run a race
Tell a good story, write a poem
Make love well
Climb a mountain
Do math or argue philosophy
Care for the old and young
Tell a convincing lie
You get the idea. Today we are highly specialised creatures, pallid by
comparison. We get others (services) to do most of our real living for
us, so we can concentrate on specialised wage slavery and use the
money to buy back vicarious living under the heading of "leisure".
Notice my last example - which illustrates the this excellence is
separate from any moral conceit of the "good person".
- mechanical_bear 5y agoThis is the Greek concept of a polymath. Also mentioned by Robert Heinlein in Time Enough For Love: A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
- nonrandomstring 5y agoIs that a direct Heinlein quote? It's amazing!
- brimble 5y agoHeinlein wrote it, his character Lazarus Long presents it. May or may not mean Heinlein thought it was true. It's oft-quoted but I think it's silly posturing. I guess everyone's just insects after all, since 99.99% of people will never do or even be prepared to do anywhere close to the whole list.
- mechanical_bear 5y ago.
- nonrandomstring 5y agoSo far I'm holding off on planning an invasion and dying gallantly. The rest I'm ticking off pretty well.
- nrclark 5y agoTBH that kind of sounds like a notion that would have been held by somebody with a lot of leisure time. I can't imagine that your average dairy farmer would have been particularly good at swords, math, or poetry.