The mean opposed to boastfulness is found in almost the same sphere; and this also is without a name. It will be no bad plan to describe these states as well; for we shall both know the facts about character better if we go through them in detail, and we shall be convinced that the virtues are means if we see this to be so in all cases. In the field of social life those who make the giving of pleasure or pain their object in associating with others have been described; let us now describe those who pursue truth or falsehood alike in words and deeds and in the claims they put forward. The boastful man, then, is thought to be apt to claim the things that bring glory, when he has not got them, or to claim more of them than he has, and the mock-modest man on the other hand to disclaim what he has or belittle it, while the man who observes the mean is one who calls a thing by its own name, being truthful both in life and in word, owning to what he has, and neither more nor less. Now each of these courses may be adopted either with or without an object. But each man speaks and acts and lives in accordance with his character, if he is not acting for some ulterior object. And falsehood is in itself mean and culpable, and truth noble and worthy of praise. Thus the truthful man is another case of a man who, being in the mean, is worthy of praise, and both forms of untruthful man are culpable, and particularly the boastful man.
This is a classically pagan approach to the virtues that Christianity will tend to alter in favor of modesty and humility. The advice here is what Chesterton described as 'neither swagger nor grovel,' but speak the truth about what you deserve -- neither more nor less. Chesterton described this as a limit; the Church says, he tells us, "Here you can swagger and there you can grovel," which he describes as an emancipation.
Yet there is something to be said for the Greek position, is there not? Nor is it inconsistent with what our own Texan99 was recently offering as Jesus' advice to 'let your yes be yes, and your no be no."
Let us discuss them both, but first of all the truthful man. We are not speaking of the man who keeps faith in his agreements, i.e. in the things that pertain to justice or injustice (for this would belong to another virtue), but the man who in the matters in which nothing of this sort is at stake is true both in word and in life because his character is such. But such a man would seem to be as a matter of fact equitable. For the man who loves truth, and is truthful where nothing is at stake, will still more be truthful where something is at stake; he will avoid falsehood as something base, seeing that he avoided it even for its own sake; and such a man is worthy of praise. He inclines rather to understate the truth; for this seems in better taste because exaggerations are wearisome.
Not immoral or vicious: wearisome. Yet we are talking about social virtues that enable us to have characters worthy of friendship, which enables the great goods of social harmony, successful politics, and a happy life with friends. It is in fact quite virtuous not to be wearisome.
He who claims more than he has with no ulterior object is a contemptible sort of fellow (otherwise he would not have delighted in falsehood), but seems futile rather than bad; but if he does it for an object, he who does it for the sake of reputation or honour is (for a boaster) not very much to be blamed, but he who does it for money, or the things that lead to money, is an uglier character (it is not the capacity that makes the boaster, but the purpose; for it is in virtue of his state of character and by being a man of a certain kind that he is boaster); as one man is a liar because he enjoys the lie itself, and another because he desires reputation or gain. Now those who boast for the sake of reputation claim such qualities as will praise or congratulation, but those whose object is gain claim qualities which are of value to one's neighbours and one's lack of which is not easily detected, e.g. the powers of a seer, a sage, or a physician. For this reason it is such things as these that most people claim and boast about; for in them the above-mentioned qualities are found.
It's surprising to see 'physician' on that list for us, but recall once again that the Greeks didn't distinguish between 'medicine' and 'poison' in their language. The science was at a more primitive stage; the claimed physician was no better than a claimant to being a seer. (There is a parallel I see very often these days; I know several women I grew up with who are now running businesses claiming to do medium work to talk to your beloved dead for you, or to perform 'energetic healing' whatever that is supposed to mean.)
Mock-modest people, who understate things, seem more attractive in character; for they are thought to speak not for gain but to avoid parade; and here too it is qualities which bring reputation that they disclaim, as Socrates used to do. Those who disclaim trifling and obvious qualities are called humbugs and are more contemptible; and sometimes this seems to be boastfulness, like the Spartan dress; for both excess and great deficiency are boastful. But those who use understatement with moderation and understate about matters that do not very much force themselves on our notice seem attractive. And it is the boaster that seems to be opposed to the truthful man; for he is the worse character.
Whether Socrates was mock-modest or really modest is hard to tell from the sources. He really does seem to have been perplexed about several problems he discussed in detail; and while he appears proud of his ability to defeat Sophists in debate, his account of the people who really impressed him with their knowledge was a shoemaker who wasn't allowed in the Agora. Whatever you wanted to say about Simon the Shoemaker, he only claimed that he knew how to make shoes: and he did! Protagoras and Gorgias and the rest claimed they knew how to make virtuous and successful men, and they couldn't even explain what the virtues were in a way that would stand up to examination.
Neither could Socrates, of course; as we have seen, Aristotle thinks that Socrates was basically wrong because of a belief that virtue was reducible to a form of knowledge. Socrates, however, was honest about the fact that he couldn't; his only claim was that he didn't really know anything at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment