Everything about Arete totally explained
Arete (Greek: ἀρετή; in English) in its basic sense means "
goodness", "
excellence" or "
virtue" of any kind. In its earliest appearance in
Greek this notion of excellence was bound up with the notion of the fulfillment of purpose or function; the act of living up to one's full potential.
"The root of the word is the same as '
aristos', the word which shows superlative ability and
superiority, and 'aristos' was constantly used in the plural to denote the
nobility." (see
Aristocracy) The
Ancient Greeks applied the term to anything: for example, the excellence of a chimney, the excellence of a
bull to be
bred, and the excellence of a
man. The meaning of the word changes depending on what it describes, since everything has its own particular excellence; the
arete of a man is different from the
arete of a horse. This way of thinking first comes from Plato, and can be seen in Plato's
Allegory of the Cave..
By the
fourth and
fifth centuries BC,
arete as applied to men had developed to include quieter virtues, such as
dikaiosyne (
justice) and
sophrosyne (self-restraint).
Plato attempted to produce a
moral philosophy that incorporated this new usage (and in doing so developed ideas that played a central part in later
Christian thought), but it was in the work of
Aristotle that the doctrine of
arete found its fullest flowering. Aristotle's "Doctrine of the Mean" (not to be confused with
Confucius's
Doctrine of the Mean) and "The Four Causes" are good examples of Aristotle's thinking.
Homer
In
Homer's
Iliad and
Odyssey,
arete is mainly used of
heroes and
nobles and their mobile dexterity, with special reference to
strength and
courage, but it isn't limited to this.
Penelope's
arete, for example, relates to
co-operation, for which she's praised by
Agamemnon. The excellence of the gods included their power, whereas in the
Odyssey (13.42) the gods can grant excellence to a life, which is understood from the context to mean prosperity. Arete was also the name of King
Alcinous' wife.
Personification
Arete was occasionally personified as a
goddess, the sister of
Homonoia (a personification of concord), daughter of the goddess of
justice Praxidike.
Arete and Homonia were known jointly as the
Praxidikai (Exacters of Justice). As with many minor Greek deities, there's little or no real mythical background to Arete, who is used at most as a personification of virtue. The only story involving Arete was originally told in the
5th century BC by the
sophist Prodicus, and concerns the early life of the
hero Heracles.
At a crossroads, Arete appeared to Heracles as a young maiden, and offered him glory and a life of struggle against evil; her counterpart,
Kakia (κακία, "badness"), offered him wealth and pleasure. Heracles chose to follow the path of Arete.
This story was later used by
Christian writers, such as
Justin Martyr,
Clement of Alexandria, and
Basil of Caesarea, use Prodicus' story, but Justin and Basil change Arete from a modest and attractive maiden into a squalidly dressed and unattractive figure.
Paideia
Arete is a significant part of the
paideia of ancient Greeks: the training of the boy to manhood. This training in arete included:
physical training, for which the Greeks developed the
gymnasion, mental training, which included
oratory,
rhetoric, and
basic sciences, and
spiritual training, which included
music and what is called
virtue.
Examples of usage
- "Virtue (arete) then is a settled disposition of the mind determining the choice of actions and emotions, consisting essentially in the observance of the mean relative to us, this being determined by principle, that is, as the prudent man would determine it." Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, II vi 15, translated H. Rackham (1934: Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press)
- "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there's any excellence (arete), if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things." New Testament, Philippians 4.8.
- Robert Pirsig uses "arete" as a synonym for Quality in his book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. This includes an extensive discussion of Plato's "Phaedrus" and the historical contrast between Dialectic and Rhetoric. "And what is good, Phaedrus, And what isn't good -- Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?" - Socrates
Sources and reading
Greek-English Lexicon, Liddell & Scott (1883: Oxford, Oxford University Press)
Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture, Werner Jaeger, trans. Gilbert Highet (1945: New York, Oxford University Press)
"Arete/Agathon/Kakon", G.B. Kerferd (in Paul Edwards [ed.-in-chief] The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1967: New York, Macmillan & The Free Press)Further Information
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