Taking an Ethics class, and in a unit of Aristotelean Virtue ethics, we are covering "The Mean."
Is there a word that means roughly, "seeking middle ground for middle ground's sake; compromising to a fault?" Seeking a middle ground or happy medium not because it is optimal or virtuous to do so, but just because it is the midpoint between two extremes of a certain behavior?
Thank you!
It is not an exact match, but an accommodationist is pretty close:
A person who seeks compromise with an opposing point of view, typically a political one.
Lexico
As noted, the word has a political connotation, and is also a term used to describe a judicial interpretation of how government should interact with religion.
... Accommodationists espouse the view that "religious individuals, and/or religious entities may be accommodated by government in regard to such things as free exercise rights, access to government programs and facilities, and religious expression."
Wikipedia
Appeasing, while nominally neutral, can carry the connotation you mention, that of conciliation just for the sake of ending discussion.
M/W has:
(1) pacify, conciliate, especially : to make concessions to (someone, such as an aggressor or a critic) often at the sacrifice of principles
This reminds me of the Confucius approach to the world called the Doctrine of the (Golden) Mean (Zhong Yong). So you could say that someone is a subscriber of the Golden Mean. You could read more about it here: The Golden Mean
I like temperate as well, but will add centrist to the list. Temperate, to me, implies a character trait, while centrist seems more focused on the center in an active or political sense.
“mewling” is a good word to capture the weak-willed connotation.
