Aristotle's "Golden Mean" and the SW Saga

I have an idea that dawned on me when I was reading Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle.

Aristotle believed in a "golden mean" that was the key to a virtuous life. Essentially, all situations in life have an excess and deficiency, and the goal was to abide by a mean inbetween the two. For example, take friendliness. One can be too friendly and then their kindness is insincere and excessive. However, someone could also never be friendly and therefore their kindness is deficient. The golden mean would be sincere friendliness.

So... how does this connect with Star Wars. Well, I started to think about the Jedi Order (PT era) and the Sith and saw them as two extremes. Sith are completely governed by their emotions and really just go with whatever solves the problem quickest. The Jedi, however, are devoid of emotion, or at least they are suppose to be. This keeps them from forming "emotional attachments".

Then, along comes Luke Skywalker... he is the "golden mean." He uses his emotions for good and restricts his bad emotions from consuming him.

Just a thought, any ideas?

 

If you have the DVD of Episode I... one of the extra features in it, has Lucas in his office in 1995, trying to write that chapter of the saga.

If you pay attention, you can see that he has MANY books in there that deal with such ancient stuff.

In the new DVD set about the Trilogy, Lucas talks about Luke. He mentions that he's basically a typical hero. Not really based on someone from fiction or real.

But he had many influences from where to get inspired from... no doubt.

 

I agree on the balance of feeling and control with Luke. I was very disappointed that the jedi were depicted as not liking emotional attachment, and equating strong feelings of any kind, including love, with potential to becoming evil.

 

I like the idea of the Golden Mean since some have suggested that it is Luke, not Anakin, who brings back the Balance of the Force. Like all prophecy, the one about the Chosen One could have been off by a generation.

 

When I first saw TPM, I was sitting there thinking, if it's anyone who brings balance back to the galaxy, it's Luke- he helps to bring down the Empire and his actions lead to the death of the Emperor. I know that the PT is Lucas' creation, but IMO, Luke brings balance because he is a balance of strength in the Force and control with his feelings. I was a bit confused, being that Darth Vader seems to tip the scale of the galaxy over to evil, which isn't balance at all.

 

Well, not to get off topic, I still see Anakin as the one who brings balance, because without the events he set in motion and without the rise of the emperor the defining moment of casting the emperor into the Death Star II's reactor would not have occured. Therefore he brought balance to the force, from a certain point of view.

However, without Luke being the Golden Mean here, Anakin/Vader would have never had the strength to return to the light side. A jedi like Obi-wan could have never done it, and his failure will obviously be seen in Episode III since Anakin becomes Vader.

Therefore the "golden mean" (aka Luke) aided in bringing balance to the force, but Anakin had to take the final step and commit the defining act.

 

Now, I get what you're saying here with the fact that the force must come into balance. It seems, though, that the Jedi interpreted it as order and harmony and all the Lightside traits, where what really happened was a balance between Jedi and Sith, Lightside and Darkside. The Sith had been eclipsed by the Jedi for a very long time, and were only two. Palps swings the balance of political power, but in terms of numbers, Vader makes sure, if unintentionally, that there are precisely as many Jedi as Sith. Two Jedi-- Obi-Wan and Yoda-- and two Sith, Vader and Palps. When Obi-Wan and Yoda go, so, eventually do Vader and Palps, and that is Vader's doing as well.

 

I don't want to throw the thread completley off- topic, but what I am saying is that since Luke is the perfect balance of emotion and control, it makes sense that he is the one that brings peace back to the galaxy and balance back to the Force. Yes, Anakin does set the process of balance into motion in the PT, but saying that Anakin alone is chosen suggests that it is only his actions that will bring the balance. Without the actions of Luke, Vader would have continued to be the servant to Palpatine and therefore, balance wouldn't exist. A more accurate statement would be that Anakin started the path to balance and Luke completed it. Anakin didn't do it alone.

 

I'll throw my two cents in here.



I know that the PT is Lucas' creation, but IMO, Luke brings balance because he is a balance of strength in the Force and control with his feelings. I was a bit confused, being that Darth Vader seems to tip the scale of the galaxy over to evil, which isn't balance at all.


I have to disagree here. I can understand why many people say this, but the basic concept of the Chosen One if the fact that he would bring balance to the Force. Balance in this case was achieved by killing Palpatine, something Luke obviously couldn't do himself. Even though Anakin needed the help of children to restore balance, it still ultimately makes him the Chosen One because it is he and he alone who carries out the action.

 

Even though Anakin needed the help of children to restore balance, it still ultimately makes him the Chosen One because it is he and he alone who carries out the action.

I agree and I would add that it's Anakin's sole responsibility to bring balance to the Force. That's the whole concept behind him being "chosen." It doesn't mean he's better than anyone else, it's that he has a responsibility no one else has.

--MissPadme

 

...it's Anakin's sole responsibility to bring balance to the Force...

But Anakin isn't the only one to bring balance, because without Luke's compassion for him, Anakin would have never seen the error of his ways, never killed Palpatine, and balance would not be brought. Just my opinion, not saying its the only one. Back to the subject of the golden mean, we also see this in a balance of technology and nature in Lucas' galaxy. We have the spaceships with hyperdrives, laser power and tractor beams; lightsabers and landspeeders, but also the swamp planet of Dagobah, the moon of Endor, and the dunes of Tattooine. This is a good in a sci-fi film, it is diversity and a kind of balance.

 

I agree with the concept of the golden mean. All emotions are natural and they have their place in the balanced individual. Fear DOES NOT lead to the Dark Side. Fear is a natural emotion that is experienced by living beings when they are threatened. If living beings didn't have fear then they would do things that would threaten their existence. So, living beings that are afraid are better able to pass along their genes because fear motivates them to protect themselves. On the other hand, people who are very fearful end up avoiding all situations, so they do not realize their full potential.

Aristotle wisely understood that there was an optimal amount of fear and the goal was not to eradicate fear, but to feel the right amount of fear and in the appropriate situations. Moreover, the optimal amount is different for different people and in different situations. The same is true with anger. When someone expresses anger, he motivates other people to do what they should. If one is angry for trivial reasons, then he damages himself and he makes other hate them. On the other hand, if he is never angry, then he suppresses his natural urge to protest what he doesn't like, and he is walked over by others, who do whatever they want and never pay attention to him.

The Jedi order is definitely modelled along eastern-Buddhist notions of passivity, non-attachment and the eradication of the emotions. This is quite different from the Aristotelian-Greek notion of experiencing the full range of human emotions in their proper amount, so that one is not dominated by them, but puts them in their proper perspective.