Can One Have Too Much Moderation?

As an example to others ... and not that I care for moderation myself ... but it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to smoke more than one cigarette at a time.

-- Attributed to Mark Twain

Moderation.  Sounds like a wise thing.  Aristotle advocated it.  In general, Aristotle urged us to avoid all extremes and seek moderation in all things.  This has been an ethical guideline for much of the West for a very long time.  Even today, in an era of extremes, it seems like good advice.  So, what could be wrong with it?  Are there any exceptions?  For some people, there are ... Didn't Barry Goldwater, 1964 Presidential candidate, say that "extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice"?  That also seems reasonable at first glance, unless it implies a justification of torture, restrictions on speech, assembly, internment for certain suspicious types, etc.  But I'm sure he didn't mean that.  Not Barry.  Maybe he only meant to justify a nuclear first strike in the name of liberty ("Let's lob one into the men's room in the Kremlin").


Trivial though it may sound, it may depend on one's perspective whether something is moderate or extreme, that perhaps "moderation" is a subjective notion that sounds good at first glance but is much harder to measure than we think ... that my moderation is your extreme.  Is one piece of chocolate per day moderation, but two pieces is not?  Is one glass of wine a day moderation, but two is not?  Maybe having no wine or chocolate is better, but if so, then that is no longer moderation, is it?  How much TV a week is too much?  Some would say no TV is best, others would say that's too extreme.  Just how are we to apply moderation to our work when it demands so much of us?  Some people don't have the luxury of cutting back hours just to take time to "smell the roses."  [There's a saying that no one should ever say again!  Along with "think outside the box."]  Tell Chinese miners who are struggling to earn enough money for their families that they should work in moderation.  That's a rather pretentious bit of advice.

How do I moderately raise a family?  How do I moderately drive to work?  How do I moderately sit in a chair?  How do I moderately sleep (other than how long)?  How do I moderately snore?  Is moderation only concerned about quantity (how long I sleep, how much I eat)?  Because, if it is, then moderation is rather trivial, and if it is not, then moderation becomes almost impossible to measure and it loses meaning.