西方的中庸之道 The Western Idea of the Golden Mean

在西方哲学里，尤其是亚里士多德的哲学，中庸是在两个极端，即过度与不足之间的适中点。

最早代表文化中这种思维的可能是克里特中有关代达罗斯与伊卡洛斯的神话。代达罗斯是当时有名的艺术家，他用蜡为自己与儿子伊卡洛斯制造了翼翅，以便逃出国王米诺斯的魔手。代达罗斯警告他的儿子飞行时应取中道，即在海水沫与太阳热之间。伊卡洛斯不理睬他的父亲，越飞越高，因此太过靠近太阳，以致他的蜡翼受热后溶化，坠海而死。

在希腊的心理中，中庸是美的属性，他们相信它是美的三个元素：对称、协调与和谐。这三原理灌输入了他们的生活中。他们十分习惯于把美当作是爱的对象，一种被看成是十分亲密，能够在他们的生活、建筑、理想教育、政治中可以再现的东西。他们就是这样看待生命。

据说，苏格拉底教导人们应知道如何选择中道，尽量避免走任何一边的极端。

亚里士多德的中庸之道是他道德学说中最有名的。简言之，亚里士多德认为道德就是两个恶习之间的适中点。例如，勇气就介于胆怯与鲁莽之间。鲁莽是自信过度而忧虑不足，胆怯却是忧虑过度而信心不足。勇气就是含有这两者的适当成分。

这种中庸之道的准则导致他认为民主国家应由中等阶级来治理，不同于柏拉图认为应由仁者哲学家来治理的看法。

这个中庸之道的观点的后来演变为黄金比例与黄金分割的观念，并应用到道德价值以外。在艺术与视觉传媒，黄金比例被当成辨别线条、形状、视觉的最理想比例。它高度影响了古代希腊的雕刻与激励了达文西对比例的学习。

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In western philosophy, especially that of Aristotle, the golden mean is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency.

The earliest representation of this idea in culture is probably in the mythological Cretan tale of Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus, a famous artist of his time, built feathered wings for himself and his son so that they might escape the clutches of King Minos. Daedalus warns his son to ‘fly the middle course’, between the sea spray and the sun's heat. Icarus did not heed his father; he flew up and up until the sun melted the wax off his wings, and he fell into the sea and died.

To the Greek mentality, golden mean was an attribute of beauty and they believed there were three 'ingredients' to beauty: symmetry, proportion, and harmony. This triad of principles infused their life. They were very much attuned to beauty as an object of love and something that was to be imitated and reproduced in their lives, architecture, Paideia and politics. They judged life by this mentality.

Socrates is said to teach that a man must know how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible.

The theory of the mean is one of Aristotle's best-known pieces of ethical thinking. In a nutshell, Aristotle said that virtues are a point of moderation between two opposite vices. For instance, the virtue courage lies between the two vices of cowardice and recklessness. Recklessness is too much confidence and not enough fear, cowardice is too much fear and not enough confidence, courage is just the right amount of both.

The ‘golden mean’ test also led to his belief that the middle class should rule democracy, unlike Plato's view that stated that democracy should be ruled by elite philosophers.

In the later development, through the idea of the Golden Mean comes the concept of the Golden Ratio and Golden Section and the application of the concepts has been extended beyond moral values. In art and visual communications, the Golden Ratio has been used as an ideal proportion on which to base lines, shapes and visual elements. It highly influenced classical Greek sculpture and inspired Leonardo Da Vinci in his studies of proportion.