Arete: Excellence & Virtue in the Ancient World - #425
Beast over Burden powered by Barbell Logic
Barbell Logic
4.7 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 30 August 2022
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Aristotle & Arete: Virtue & Excellence
If you're reading Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, you'll probably read the word virtue. If, however, someone is describing a knife or piece of pottery, you'll see the word excellence.
What this concept really means is a good example of something. An excellent knife is one that serves its purpose well, so one that can cut well. This means certain things will come with it - it will be sharp and durable. It serves its end well.
Aristotle has some good quotes pertaining to excellence and happiness. "Virtue then is a settled disposition of the mind as regards the choice of actions and feelings, 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."
Another quote on excellence: "all excellence has a twofold effect on the thing to which it belongs: it not only renders the thing itself good, but it also causes it to perform its function well."
Lastly, his quote on happiness: ""happiness is a certain activity of soul in conformity with perfect virtue."
Arete & the Ancient World
It was in part a reaction to the reality of man, that our lives our fleeting, and we are like leaves in the wind.
What do you do when faced with your own immortality and apparent smallness and weakness?
The Greeks pursued arete and glory. They did this in warfare and in the Olympic games, in philosophy and rhetoric.
The excellence and virtue that individuals achieved contributed to the greatness of some of these ancient cities. Sparta did not defeat the Persians because of their love of freedom, but because the Spartans pursue greatness in warfare.
If you're looking to pursue greatness in the gym or any other pursuit, this is the talk for you.
Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey listeners, this is normally when we would talk about holiday sale or how |
| 0:07.4 | now is the right time to start with online coaching because of how much money |
| 0:10.5 | you can save. However, as I met with our marketing team earlier this month to |
| 0:14.8 | discuss promotional ideas, we found ourselves focusing on the ideal outcomes |
| 0:19.3 | for people who want to work with a coach. And that called to mind how many of |
| 0:23.1 | our clients got into this for the form corrections and ended up making real |
| 0:27.8 | life transformations through strength training. We realized that the ideal |
| 0:31.9 | barbell logic client is not afraid of hard work. They don't just have goals, they |
| 0:36.5 | are driven by continual self-improvement. They pursue strength because they |
| 0:40.7 | care deeply about the people who they love who depend on them. We know that |
| 0:45.6 | price is always a consideration when it comes to deciding to sign up for |
| 0:48.9 | something. But our successful clients tell us that in addition to carefully |
| 0:53.0 | deciding where to invest their money, they're also very intentional about how they |
| 0:57.3 | invest their time. And when you care about your time that much, there is fear that |
| 1:01.8 | you could waste your time and not see the results you want. If any of this |
| 1:05.6 | sounds like you, I'm here to make you a promise. You give us six months of two to |
| 1:10.6 | four workouts a week and if you don't see changes in your strength or form, we |
| 1:14.8 | will give you all of your money back. That's all six months. The worst case |
| 1:19.3 | scenario is it ends up costing you nothing. The best case scenario is you invest |
| 1:24.1 | in yourself and you get exactly what you want out of your training. The only |
| 1:28.0 | risk is about on yourself. It's time to place that bet and put your money where |
| 1:32.4 | your goals are. Get matched with your coach now at www.barbelllogic.com slash |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Barbell Logic, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Barbell Logic and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.
