Aristotle's Ethics

    The most potent contribution of Aristotle's to philosophy, I believe, are his insights on ethics. The moderate response is necessary in any given situation, which is relative to the person and the place. Reason is the tool by which the right choices are made, which is often replaced by gut instinct or listening to one's heart. This is a mistake because the heart tends to only steer us in the direction of desire, upsetting the balance that moderation possesses. The two extremes at either end of the moral mean are the two vices that any situation has the potential to reveal. For instance, wrath and subservience are at the ends separating good temper, a state when anger is only expressed when it is justified and in the right moment. The vices are fueled by passionate desires to saturate anger and settle for peace, respectively. All vices are fueled by desires like these that become a virtue on the fulcrum. The wise person understands that the appropriate reaction is a balance between the vices, not necessarily the most noble or holy one. The situations and scales he uses are elaborated in "The Nicomachean Ethics".