An Islamic Philosophical Approach in Explaining the Middle Term in Conceptual Study of Virtue

Agreeing with Aristotelian definition of virtue as the desirable middle between the two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency. Most Muslim philosophers have met with serious problems in the way of generalization of this rule to various instances of virtue and sought to overcome the problems in various ways. This research attempts to answer the basic question: what Islamic philosophers have proposed to solve the generalization problem of Aristotle's rule? In this paper, by a descriptive-analytical method and analyzing the views of Islamic philosophers, while presenting a philosophical explanation of the actions of human soul in equilibrium and meta-equilibrium directions, the viewpoint of Islamic scholars in the generalization of Aristotle`s rule of moderation, the separation between ethical and rational virtues and emphasis on its applicability in ethics, and separation of the theoretical and practical wisdom have been explained. The explanation of this perspective ultimately suggests ways to solve the problems in generalizing Aristotelian rule in the field of virtues.