Getting Serious about Seriousness: On the Meaning of Spoudaios in Aristotle's Ethics
Mathew T. Lu
Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 87:285-293 (2013)

"[T]o take X seriously is to adopt a higher-order reflective stance towards X that considers X under the purview of some kind of value (or disvalue). I think this higher-order reflectivity is an important part of what Aristotle wants us to take out of the claim that the work of a human being is the same as the work of a serious human being. Indeed what makes a *serious* human being serious is his capacity and willingness to subject his practical reasoning to such higher order reflection. I also strongly suspect that Aristotle mindfully chose a kind of artistry (cithara playing) as his analogy. We recognize in the serious artist a kind of thoughtfulness and consideration in the exercise of his artistic choices.... What ultimately matters - within limits, of course - is that his choices suggest a kind of deep thoughtfulness borne of sustained and committed reflection on the values in play. Indeed, the well-lived human life is itself almost a kind of artistic performance, though one whose ultimate ends are determined not by a playwright but the intrinsic capacities of human nature. To take one's life seriously is to shape one's actions and character thoughtfully and carefully in light of the subtle interplay of contingent particular circumstance and the essential features of human flourishing." (LU-2013, p. 287)

"[T]he problem with the immature (in age or character) is precisely that they are not sufficiently reflective about their lives, but live in accord with feeling and follow their impulses. They are lacking in "education," which here does not mean a body of knowledge but an ordering of the soul." (LU-2013, p. 287)

"To discern the real nature of things as authentically beautiful or pleasant it is necessary to be a "person of serious moral stature." This actually allows us to see more deeply into the problem of the immature in character. When they are driven by feeling it is not just that they tend to be unreflective and impulsive, but that their untutored feelings simply do not line up with what is authentically pleasant and good. In other words, because they lack moral seriousness they do not perceive the authentically good as pleasurable or the authentically bad as painful. Instead, they are driven to pursue what *seems* to them good and pleasurable, but which, owing to their lack of seriousness, likely is not." (LU-2013, pp. 288-289)

"[N]ot only will someone lacking in seriousness not be able to manifest the virtues, but that person will likely be driven to pursue ends that are contrary to the authentic fulfillment of human nature." (LU-2013, p. 289)

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