Notes on the Exhortation "Nothing Too Much"

Comparison of "Know Thyself" and "Nothing Too Much"

Order

• "Know thyself" comes before "nothing too much" because understanding oneself is necessary to determine what is too much for oneself.
• Example: Knowing your alcohol tolerance comes from knowing yourself.
• Examples Illustrating the Importance of Prior Knowledge:
  • Acetaminophen dosage for a baby depends on knowing the baby's age and weight.
  • The right amount of wood for a carpenter depends on what they're making.
• Determining "how much" depends on knowing "what" something is.

Applying the Exhortations

• "Nothing too much" acts as a check on the potential for exaggeration in "know thyself."
• Modern thinkers often overemphasize self-knowledge, excluding other realities.
• The second exhortation puts a brake on knowledge of ourselves.

Relationship to Loving Ourselves

• The exhortations address defects in both knowing and loving ourselves.
• The wise men exhorted people to know themselves, not to love themselves immoderately, implying that we already tend to love ourselves too much, particularly our good qualities.
• You cannot love something you do not know about, and knowledge comes before love.
• Imperfect self-knowledge leads to imperfect self-love.
• Two problems with loving ourselves:
  • Loving ourselves too much (self-centeredness).
  • Not truly loving ourselves due to lack of self-knowledge.
• Children's tendency to overindulge in pleasures reflects a lack of self-knowledge.

Two Defects in Self-Love

• Loving ourselves too much.
• Not truly loving ourselves because we don't know ourselves.
• "Nothing too much" addresses excessive self-love.
• "Know thyself" helps correct the defect of not truly loving ourselves.
• Knowing oneself leads to a more genuine love of oneself.
• "Know thyself" also addresses defects in knowing ourselves.

Consideration of "Nothing Too Much" in Itself

Why Not "Nothing Too Little"?

• More harm is generally done by too much than too little.
  • Example: Driving too fast causes more accidents than driving too slowly.
  • Drinking too much alcohol is more harmful than drinking too little (of alcohol, not water/milk).
  • Getting too angry causes more harm than not being angry enough.
• We are more inclined to go to excess.
  • Speeding tickets are more common than tickets for driving too slowly.
  • We tend to overindulge in pleasures like eating, drinking, and sex.
  • We are more likely to get too angry than not angry enough.
• Inclination.
• We tend to be more inclined to go too much rather than too little.
• Example: money
• Pride: an excessive love of one's own excellence.
• Pride is considered the root of all vices.
• We need more reminding that too much is bad rather than too little.
• "Nothing too much" urges us toward the mean, balance, and virtue.
• An exhortation to virtue. Hit the mean.
• Ultimately a call to virtue, balance and the mean.