Aristotle's Golden Mean & Ecc. 3

[VeritasLuxMea]

I have a few questions here, had a tough time condensing it. I apologize.

Question 1. What influence does Aristotle’s Golden Mean have on Catholic moral theology?

Question 2. What is the Catholic interpretation of Ecclesiastes 3? (Below)

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Question 3. What does the Church make of Ecclesiastes 3 vis-a-vis Aristotle’s Golden Mean?

I ask because, for example, we say that gluttony is sinful, and likely the opposite of gluttony is probably sinful because it is also harmful to the body (though I’m not sure what you would call it), and yet as Catholics we have both feasts and fasts.

I’m wondering about this even more so because I have a great party coming up! So that always reminds me of this issue. I remember wondering stuff like, “at what point does ‘cutting loose’ and ‘having fun’ become sinful?” As you can imagine, I’m the life of the party with that attitude… lol!!!

 

[damian_clarke]

The mean implies we should always seek balance in our lives.
My understanding goes like this.
Courage is a virtue.
If I walk into a bar of bikers walk up to the guy with the most tattoos and spit in his beer and pull the girl off his lap and kiss her that is not courage that is foolhardiness.

If I see a gang harming some-one and I don’t try an dhe;p by phoning the police or shouting out loudly then I am a coward.

Courage lies between those two extremes.

So as we are urged not to place too much store in the things of the world so we have to also take care of business to provide for our families. etc.

 

[VeritasLuxMea]

The mean implies we should always seek balance in our lives.
My understanding goes like this.
Courage is a virtue.
If I walk into a bar of bikers walk up to the guy with the most tattoos and spit in his beer and pull the girl off his lap and kiss her that is not courage that is foolhardiness.

If I see a gang harming some-one and I don’t try an dhe;p by phoning the police or shouting out loudly then I am a coward.

Courage lies between those two extremes.

So as we are urged not to place too much store in the things of the world so we have to also take care of business to provide for our families. etc.

I agree, for the most part, with your interpretation of the Golden Mean.

I did/do know what it means beforehand, so I don’t so much need the help there, but thanks for explaining it here for those posters who might not have heard of it. I should have included an explanation in my initial post, and you remedied that problem.