Comments on: Maxim Monday: Praise those having arête.

By: thalassa

thalassa — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 12:46:14 +0000

I actually have a feeling the Greeks would have admired someone that robbed a bank with suitable flair and innovation just as much as they would have admired the guy that diligently went to work to decipher the clues and catch/arrest him…

I agree that there should be some sort of benchmark for what “excellence” is achieved, when a person/institution claims it…but I think that what “excellence” entails is individually interpreted and defined. I think the fault isn’t in the word, but in the failure of the person/institution to make their own criteria of what excellence entails for them.

By: Neferet

Neferet — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 12:26:46 +0000

I nominated you for the Beautiful Blogger award. Congratulations!

http://stayforaspell.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/2-awards/

By: deb

deb — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 02:01:17 +0000

this is so interesting to me – that the greeks praised “excellence.” there is a book called “The University in Ruins,” by Bill Readings. One of the things he criticizes is the empty obsession we have with “excellence.” Readings criticizes universities who advertise the way they strive for “excellence” in student life, excellence in academics, excellence in research etc. He claims that it means nothing without defining the terms of excellence. I’d be interested to read more how the greeks used the word – how they applied this maxim. were they similarly obsessed with an empty undefined ideal, or have we drifted away from their more specific goals of personal fulfillment? the way you put it here, to “excel at whatever you put your mind to,” gives it some context – but still, did they apply some sort of moral parameters? (what if you put your mind to something amoral, like robbing a bank?)

of course, i totally get the msg. here, that we should strive to do and be our best. but i’m fascinated if this supposed “flaw” in our way of defining terms is something that didn’t arise in the 20th C as Readings suggests, but can be traced to the greeks…