Sophrosyne in Greek, or temperance in English, is the virtue about how we live with bodily pleasures such as food and drink.

Aristotle noticed something a little embarrassing about us. You can already have had enough and still want more. Wanting has its own momentum. It does not check with your stomach first. That is ordinary human bias. We are built to like what tastes good, and that liking keeps going after we are already full.

Aristotle watched where that bias leans.

Almost nobody leans toward too little pleasure. Some people treat liking a cookie as if it were slightly shameful, and they take less joy than a body actually wants. He found this so rare he barely bothered to name it. He said it hardly shows up in real humans. Animals like food. People like food. Coldness toward pleasure is the weird one.

The common lean is the other way. We continue. The cookie was good, so another cookie must also be good. Appetite is bad at that distinction. And when the pleasant thing stops, we don't feel good. We don't like a pleasure ending, whether that's your kid throwing a tantrum or you feeling upset as you reach your last chip.

A temperate person still likes the cookie. Obviously. What changed is how big the want is. They enjoy the food that is good for them, in an amount that fits this body on this day. When it is over, they are all right.

People confuse this with self-control. Self-control is wanting four and stopping at two. The oversized want is still in the room. You are sitting on it. Aristotle called that continence. It is respectable. It is also tiring. With temperance, you already feel enough.

Enough depends on the person and the day. What they already ate. Whether they are hungry, or just still wanting. There is no cookie count that is right for everyone.