Courage

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Courage (also called bravery, valour (British and Commonwealth English), or valor (American English)) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battle.

Contents

Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, hardship, even death, or threat of death; while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, [1] shame, scandal, discouragement, or personal loss.

The classical virtue of fortitude (andreia, fortitudo) is also translated as "courage", but includes the aspects of perseverance and patience. [2] In the Western tradition, notable thoughts on courage have come from philosophers Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, and Kierkegaard, as well as Christian beliefs and texts.

In the Hindu tradition, mythology has given many examples of courage, with examples of both physical and moral courage exemplified. In the Eastern tradition, the Chinese text Tao Te Ching offers a great deal of thoughts on courage, both physical and moral.

Characteristics of courage

Fear and confidence in relation to courage

According to Professor Daniel Putman, "courage involves deliberate choice in the face of painful or fearful circumstances for the sake of a worthy goal". [3] With this realization, Putman concludes that "there is a close connection between fear and confidence". [4] Fear and confidence in relation to courage can determine the success of a courageous act or goal. [5] They can be seen as independent variables in courage, and their relationship can affect how we respond to fear. [6] The confidence that is being discussed here is self-confidence; confidence in knowing one's skills and abilities and being able to determine when to fight fear or when to flee it. [7] Putman states that: "The ideal in courage is not just a rigid control of fear, nor is it a denial of the emotion. The ideal is to judge a situation, accept the emotion as part of human nature and, we hope, use well-developed habits to confront the fear and allow reason to guide our behavior toward a worthwhile goal." [7]

According to Putman, Aristotle refers to an appropriate level of fear and confidence in courage. [7] "Fear, although it might vary from person to person, is not completely relative and is only appropriate if it 'matches the danger of the situation'". [7] The same goes for confidence in that there are two aspects to self-confidence in a dangerous situation:

  1. "A realistic confidence in the worth of a cause that motivates positive action."
  2. "Knowing our own skills and abilities. A second meaning of appropriate confidence then is a form of self-knowledge." [7]

Without an appropriate balance between fear and confidence when facing a threat, one cannot have the courage to overcome it. Professor Daniel Putman states "if the two emotions are distinct, then excesses or deficiencies in either fear or confidence can distort courage". [8] Courage does not mean that you are not afraid, it means that you are willing to face the challenges that lay ahead of you. [9]

Possible distortions of courage

According to Putman, there are four possible ways courage could be distorted: [8]

  1. "Higher level of fear than a situation calls for, low level of confidence". Someone like this would be perceived as a coward;
  2. "Excessively low level of fear when real fear is an appropriate, excessively high level of confidence". Someone like this would be perceived as foolhardy;
  3. "Excessively high level of fear, yet the confidence is also excessively high". The third possibility can occur if someone experienced a traumatic experience that brought about great anxiety for much of their life. Then they fear that their experience would often be inappropriate and excessive. Yet as a defensive mechanism, the person would show excessive levels of confidence as a way to confront their irrational fear and "prove" something to oneself or another. So this distortion could be seen as a coping method for their fear.
  4. "Excessively low level of fear and low level of confidence". For the last possibility, it can be seen as hopelessness or fatalism.

Thus, Putman identifies fear and courage as being deeply intertwined and that they rely on distinct perceptions: "the danger of the situation", "the worthiness of the cause", "and the perception of one's ability". [8]

Theories

Ancient Greece

Plato, Musei Capitolini Plato Silanion Musei Capitolini MC1377.jpg
Plato, Musei Capitolini

Plato's Laches discusses courage, but fails to come to a satisfactory conclusion on what courage is. Many definitions of courage are offered, including: [10]

...a man willing to remain at his post and to defend himself against the enemy without running away... [10]

...a sort of endurance of the soul... [10]

...knowledge of the grounds of fear and hope... [11]

While many definitions are given in Plato's Laches, all are refuted, giving the reader a sense of Plato's argument style. Laches is an early writing of Plato's, which may be a reason he does not come to a clear conclusion. In this early writing, Plato is still developing his ideas and shows influence from his teachers like Socrates. [10]

In The Republic , Plato describes courage as a sort of perseverance – "preservation of the belief that has been inculcated by the law through education about what things and sorts of things are to be feared". [12] Plato explains this perseverance as being able to persevere through all emotions, like suffering, pleasure, and fear. [13]

As a desirable quality, courage is discussed broadly by Aristotle in the context of soldiers in battle for a noble cause. In Nicomachean Ethics , where its absence is the vice of cowardice and its excess the vice of recklessness, courage represents the mean between the two extremes. [14]

Thucydides, a 5th century BCE Greek historian, wrote, "The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it." [16]

Ancient Rome

In the Roman Empire, courage formed part of the universal virtue of virtus . Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero (106–43 BCE) lists the cardinal virtues but does not name them as such: "Virtue may be defined as a habit of mind (animi) in harmony with reason and the order of nature. It has four parts: wisdom (prudentiam), justice, courage, temperance." [17] [18] However, Cicero held that "a courageous spirit in a human who has not attained perfection and ideal wisdom is generally too impetuous". [19]

Western traditions

In De Officiis Ministrorum, Ambrose echoes Cicero in holding reservations regarding those who exhibit courage without yet having demonstrated a general moral balance. [20] Ambrose held that fortitude without justice occasions injustice; since the stronger a man is the more ready to oppress the weaker. [21]

Courage is a natural virtue which Saint Augustine did not consider a virtue for Christians.[ dubious – discuss ]

Eastern traditions

The Tao Te Ching contends that courage is derived from love ( 慈 故 能 勇 ) translated as: "From love one gains courage." [22]

In Hindu tradition, Courage (shauriya) / Bravery (dhairya), and Patience (taamasa) appear as the first two of ten characteristics ( lakshana ) of dharma in the Hindu Manusmṛti , alongside forgiveness ( kshama ), tolerance ( dama ), honesty (asthaya), physical restraint ( indriya nigraha), cleanliness (shouchya), perceptiveness ( dhi ), knowledge ( vidhya ), truthfulness ( satya ), and control of anger ( akrodha ). [23]

Islamic beliefs also present courage and self-control as a key factors in facing the Devil (both internally and externally). Many have this belief because of the courage the Prophets of the past displayed (through peace and patience), despite there being people who despised them.[ citation needed ]

Modern

Pre-19th century

Thomas Hobbes lists virtues into the categories of moral virtues and virtues of men in his work Man and Citizen. [24] Hobbes outlines moral virtues as virtues in citizens, that is virtues that without exception are beneficial to society as a whole. [25] These moral virtues are justice (i.e. not violating the law) and charity. Courage as well as prudence and temperance are listed as the virtues of men. [24] By this Hobbes means that these virtues are invested solely in the private good as opposed to the public good of justice and charity. Hobbes describes courage and prudence as strengths of mind as opposed to a goodness of manners. These virtues are always meant to act in the interests of individual while the positive and/or negative effects of society are merely a byproduct. This stems forth from the idea put forth in Leviathan that the state of nature is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" and self-preservation is the most fundamental aspect of behavior. According to Hobbes courage is a virtue of the individual in order to ensure a better chance of survival while the moral virtues address Hobbes's social contract which civilized men display (in varying degrees) in order to transcend the state of nature. [26] Hobbes also uses the idea of fortitude as a virtue. Fortitude is "to dare" according to Hobbes, but also to "resist stoutly in present dangers". [27] This is a more in-depth elaboration of Hobbes's concept of courage that is addressed earlier in Man and Citizen[ clarification needed ].

David Hume listed virtues into two categories in his work A Treatise of Human Nature : artificial virtues and natural virtues. Hume categorized courage as a natural virtue. In the Treatise's section "Of Pride and Humility, Their Objects and Causes", Hume wrote that courage is a cause of pride: "Every valuable quality of the mind, whether of the imagination, judgment, memory or disposition; wit, good-sense, learning, courage, justice, integrity; all these are the cause of pride; and their opposites of humility". [28]

Hume also wrote that courage and joy have positive effects on the soul: "...since the soul, when elevated with joy and courage, in a manner seeks opposition, and throws itself with alacrity into any scene of thought or action, where its courage meets with matter to nourish and employ it". [29] Along with courage nourishing and employing, Hume also wrote that courage defends humans in the Treatise: "We easily gain from the liberality of others, but are always in danger of losing by their avarice: Courage defends us, but cowardice lays us open to every attack". [30]

Hume considered what excessive courage does to a hero's character in the Treatise's section "Of the Other Virtues and Vices": "Accordingly we may observe, that an excessive courage and magnanimity, especially when it displays itself under the frowns of fortune, contributes in a great measure, to the character of a hero, and will render a person the admiration of posterity; at the same time, that it ruins his affairs, and leads him into dangers and difficulties, with which otherwise he would never have been acquainted". [31]

Other understandings of courage that Hume offered can be derived from Hume's views on morals, reason, sentiment, and virtue from his work An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals.

19th century onward

Søren Kierkegaard opposed courage to angst,[ citation needed ] while Paul Tillich opposed an existential courage to be with non-being, [32] fundamentally equating it with religion:

Courage is the self-affirmation of being in spite of the fact of non-being. It is the act of the individual self in taking the anxiety of non-being upon itself by affirming itself... in the anxiety of guilt and condemnation.... every courage to be has openly or covertly a religious root. For religion is the state of being grasped by the power of being itself. [33]

J.R.R. Tolkien identified in his 1936 lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" a "Northern 'theory of courage'" – the heroic or "virtuous pagan" insistence to do the right thing even in the face of certain defeat without promise of reward or salvation:

It is the strength of the northern mythological imagination that it faced this problem, put the monsters in the centre, gave them victory but no honor, and found a potent and terrible solution in naked will and courage. 'As a working theory absolutely impregnable.' So potent is it, that while the older southern imagination has faded forever into literary ornament, the northern has power, as it were, to revive its spirit even in our own times. It can work, as it did even with the goðlauss Viking, without gods: martial heroism as its own end. [34]

Virtuous pagan heroism or courage in this sense is "trusting in your own strength", as observed by Jacob Grimm in his Teutonic Mythology:

Men who, turning away in utter disgust and doubt from the heathen faith, placed their reliance on their own strength and virtue. Thus in the Sôlar lioð 17 we read of Vêbogi and Râdey â sik þau trûðu, "in themselves they trusted". [35]

Ernest Hemingway famously defined courage as "grace under pressure". [36]

Winston Churchill stated, "Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all others."[ citation needed ]

According to Maya Angelou, "Courage is the most important of the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage." [37] And C.S. Lewis wrote that "Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality." [38]

In Beyond Good and Evil , Friedrich Nietzsche describes master–slave morality, in which a noble man regards himself as a "determiner of values"; one who does not require approval, but passes judgment. Later, in the same text, he lists man's four virtues as courage, insight, sympathy, and solitude, and goes on to emphasize the importance of courage: "The great epochs of our life are the occasions when we gain the courage to re-baptize our evil qualities as our best qualities." [39]

According to the Swiss psychologist Andreas Dick, courage consists of the following components: [40]

  1. put at risk, risk or repugnance, or sacrifice safety or convenience, which may result in death, bodily harm, social condemnation or emotional deprivation;
  2. a knowledge of wisdom and prudence about what is right and wrong in a given moment;
  3. Hope and confidence in a happy, meaningful outcome;
  4. a free will;
  5. a motive based on love.

Implicit Theories of Courage

Researchers who want to study the concept and the emotion of courage have continued to come across a certain problem. While there are "numerous definitions of courage", [41] they are unable to set "an operational definition of courage on which to base sound explicit theories". [42] Rate et al. states that because of a lack of an operational definition, the advancement of research in courage is limited. [42] So they conducted studies to try to find "a common structure of courage". [42] Their goal from their research of implicit theories was to find "people's form and content on the idea of courage". [43] Many researchers created studies on implicit theories by creating a questionnaire that would ask "What is courage?". [43] In addition, in order to "[ clarification needed ]develop a measurement scale of courage, ten experts in the field of psychology came together to define courage. [44] They defined it as:

the ability to act for a meaningful (noble, good, or practical) cause, despite experiencing the fear associated with perceived threat exceeding the available resources [44] [45]

Also, because[ non sequitur ] courage is a "[ clarification needed ]multi-dimensional construct, it can be "better understood as an exceptional response to specific external conditions or circumstances than as an attribute, disposition, or character trait". [43] Meaning that rather than being a show character[ clarification needed ] or an attribute, courage is a response to fear. [43]

From their research, they were able to find the "four necessary components of people's notion of courage". [46] They are:

  1. "intentionality/deliberation" [46]
  2. "personal fear" [46]
  3. "noble/good act" [46]
  4. "and personal risk" [46]

With these four components, they were able to define courage as:

a willful, intentional act, executed after mindful deliberation, involving objective substantial risk to the actor, primarily motivated to bring about a noble good or worthy end, despite, perhaps, the presence of the emotion of fear. [46]

To further the discussion of the implicit theories of courage, the researchers stated that future research could consider looking into the concept of courage and fear and how individual's might feel fear, overcome it and act, and act despite it. [47]

"Clinical courage"

The term "clinical courage" came to light in relation to modern medicine in the 2000s, [48] mostly in relation to the practice of medicine in remote or resource-limited settings. It has been described as the practice of medicine outside of a clinician's usual scope of practice, or relevant clinical guidelines, in order to provide essential medical care, where no alternative exists. [49] It has been specifically discussed in relation to rural generalists, [50] paramedics, [49] general practitioners, [51] and rural medicine. [52] The opposing theory is that of "clinical recklessness", in which the actions of a clinician in stepping outside of their competence results in unprofessional behaviour, which exposes patients to risk or harm. [49]

Society and symbolism

One symbol often associated with courage is the lion. [53] It is sometimes seen in the Catholic Church as a depiction of Christ's triumph over sin. [54] It also is a symbol in some cultures as a savior of the people who live in a community with sin and corruption. [55]

Fortitude

Fortitude and courage are distinguishable in that fortitude is the mental or emotional strength that enables courage in the face of adversity. [56] According to Presbyterian theologian William Swan Plumer, "There is also, in strict propriety of language, a difference between courage and fortitude. Courage faces and resists danger; fortitude endures pain.... Courage is for action; fortitude for suffering. In this sense, fortitude differs little from constancy and patient endurance." [57]

Thomas Aquinas says that fortitude ranks third after prudence and justice among the cardinal virtues. [2] He distinguishes fortitude from fearlessness, which can too easily become recklessness through short-sighted audacity with disastrous results. [58] In both Catholicism and Anglicanism, fortitude is also one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Awards

Several awards claim to recognize courageous actions, including:

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Pianalto, Matthew (2012). "Moral Courage and Facing Others". Philosophical Studies. 20 (2): 165–184. doi:10.1080/09672559.2012.668308. S2CID   143490856.
  2. 1 2 Rickaby, John (1909). "Fortitude". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  3. ↑ Putman 2001.
  4. ↑ Putman 2001, pp. 464.
  5. ↑ Putman 2001, pp. 463.
  6. ↑ Putman 2001, pp. 466.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Putman 2001, pp. 465.
  8. 1 2 3 Putman 2001, pp. 467.
  9. ↑ "William Ian Miller "The Mystery of Courage" (review)". The American Historical Review. December 2001. doi:10.1086/ahr/106.5.1749. ISSN   1937-5239.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Walton 1986, pp. 56–58.
  11. ↑ Plato 1997, pp. 675–86.
  12. ↑ Plato 1997, pp. 1061–75.
  13. ↑ Plato 1997, pp. 2061–75.
  14. ↑ Aristotle (2002). "Nicomachean Ethics". In Broadie, Sarah (ed.). Aristotle, Translation, Introduction, and Commentary. Translated by Rowe, Christopher. Oxford University Press. 1103b15-20, 1104a15-25, 1104b1-10, 1107a30-1107b5, 1108b15-35, 1109a5-15, 1115a5-1117b25, 1129b20-5, 1137a20-5, 144b5-10, 1167a20, 1177a30-b1.
  15. ↑ Zimmern, Alfred E (1911). The Greek Commonwealth: Politics and Economics in Fifth-Century Athens. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 200.
  16. ↑ Attributed to Pericles by Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Translated by Zimmern, Alfred E. II.40. [15]
  17. ↑ McDonnell 2006, p. 129.
  18. ↑ Cicero. De Inventione. II.53.
  19. ↑ Cicero (1913). De Officiis. Loeb Classical Library. Harvard University Press. I.46.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  20. ↑ Tierney, Brian; Painter, Sidney (1983). "The Christian Church". Western Europe in the Middle Ages, 300–1475 (4th ed.). New York, N.Y.: Alfred A Knopf. ISBN   9780394330600.
  21. ↑ Ambrose of Milan. De Officiis Ministrorum. I.35.176.
  22. ↑ Chapter 67 (C. Ganson translation)
  23. ↑ Toussi, Seyyed Khalil (2020-02-24), "Mullā Ṣadrā and the socio-political and cultural milieu", The Political Philosophy of Mullā Ṣadrā, Routledge, pp. 19–50, doi:10.4324/9781315751160-2, ISBN   9781315751160, S2CID   214395786 , retrieved 2023-06-21
  24. 1 2 Hobbes 1972, pp. 68–70.
  25. ↑ Hobbes 1972, pp. 17–18.
  26. ↑ Hobbes 1972, p. 290.
  27. ↑ Hobbes 1972, pp. 150–52.
  28. ↑ Hume 1751, p. 434.
  29. ↑ Hume 1751, p. 666.
  30. ↑ Hume 1751, p. 459.
  31. ↑ Hume 1751, p. 900.
  32. ↑ Tillich 1952, p. 89.
  33. ↑ Tillich 1952, pp. 152–183.
  34. ↑ Tolkien, JRR. "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics". The Tolkien Estate. p. 25. Archived from the original on 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  35. ↑ Grimm, Jacob (1835). Deutsche Mythologie (Teutonic Mythology) (in German) (1 ed.). Dieterich: Göttingen.
  36. ↑ Carter, Richard (1999). "Celebrating Ernest Hemingway's Century". neh.gov. National Endowment for the Humanities. Archived from the original on 2013-09-30. Retrieved 2009-06-19.
  37. ↑ Maya Angelou, Meeting Dr. Du Bois (audio interview by Krista Tippett, 2014)
  38. ↑ Lewis, C.S. (1942). The Screwtape Letters. letter XXIX.
  39. ↑ Nietzsche 1989, p. 65.
  40. ↑ Dick, Andreas (2010). Mut – Über sich hinauswachsen. Bern: Hans Huber Verlag. ISBN   978-3-456-84835-8.
  41. ↑ "Implicit theories of courage". p. 81.
  42. 1 2 3 Rate et al. 2007, pp. 81.
  43. 1 2 3 4 Rate et al. 2007, pp. 83.
  44. 1 2 Rate et al. 2007, pp. 84.
  45. ↑ Woodard 2004, pp. 174.
  46. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rate et al. 2007, pp. 95.
  47. ↑ Rate et al. 2007, pp. 96.
  48. ↑ Wootton J (2011). "President's message. Clinical courage". Can J Rural Med. 16 (2): 45–46. PMID   21453603.
  49. 1 2 3 Mallinson, Tom (2020). "Clinical courage". Journal of Paramedic Practice. 12 (11): 429. doi:10.12968/jpar.2020.12.11.429. ISSN   1759-1376.
  50. ↑ Konkin, Jill; Grave, Laura; Cockburn, Ella; Couper, Ian; Stewart, Ruth Alison; Campbell, David; Walters, Lucie (2020). "Exploration of rural physicians' lived experience of practising outside their usual scope of practice to provide access to essential medical care (clinical courage): an international phenomenological study". BMJ Open. 10 (8): e037705. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037705 . ISSN   2044-6055. PMC   7451271 . PMID   32847915.
  51. ↑ Walters, Lucie; Laurence, Caroline O.; Dollard, Joanne; Elliott, Taryn; Eley, Diann S. (2015). "Exploring resilience in rural GP registrars – implications for training". BMC Medical Education. 15 (1): 110. doi: 10.1186/s12909-015-0399-x . ISSN   1472-6920. PMC   4487989 . PMID   26134975.
  52. ↑ Fox, Kevin; Corstorphine, Wendy; Frazer, Jenny; Johnstone, Anna; Miller, Alasdair; Shepherd, Neil; Cooper, Paul (2020). "Ten reasons why every junior doctor should spend time working in a remote and rural hospital". Future Healthcare Journal. 7 (1): 12–14. doi: 10.7861/fhj.2019-0050 . ISSN   2514-6645. PMC   7032586 . PMID   32104759.
  53. ↑ Miller 2000, pp. 101–102.
  54. ↑ Revelation 5:5
  55. ↑ Walton 1986, pp. 199–202.
  56. ↑ "Fortitude". Merriam-Webster.
  57. ↑ Rama, Kim (31 October 2019). "Fortitude: The Courage of Staying". Austin Classical School.
  58. ↑ Titus, Craig Steven (2006). Resilience and the Virtue of Fortitude. CUA Press. p. 179. ISBN   978-0-8132-1463-4.
  59. ↑ Smith, Melvin Charles (2008), "The Middle Parts of Fortune: Heroism in Evolution, 1915–1916", Awarded for Valour, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 132–151, doi:10.1057/9780230583351_8, ISBN   978-1-349-36136-6 , retrieved 2023-06-21
  60. ↑ "Bio | Ivan Allen Prize". Georgia Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  61. ↑ Miller, Malcolm (2001). Vir, Param. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.46314.
  62. ↑ "Private Prosecution Rights in Latin America by Country". Prosecutorial Accountability and Victims' Rights in Latin America: 197–206. 2018. doi:10.1017/9781108380034.011. ISBN   9781108380034.

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Aristotle first used the term ethics to name a field of study developed by his predecessors Socrates and Plato which is devoted to the attempt to provide a rational response to the question of how humans should best live. Aristotle regarded ethics and politics as two related but separate fields of study, since ethics examines the good of the individual, while politics examines the good of the city-state, which he considered to be the best type of community.

<i>Laches</i> (dialogue) Socratic dialogue written by Plato

The Laches is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. Participants in the discourse present competing definitions of the concept of courage or "manliness", ἀνδρεία in Greek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worry</span> Thoughts, images, emotions, and actions of a pessimistic nature

Worrying is the mental distress or agitation resulting from anxiety, usually coming from a place of anticipatory fear (terror) or fear coming from a present threat (horror). With more understanding of the situation, worry becomes concern, the recognition of a future outcome that could be troubling, without necessarily having fear in that outcome.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the human self:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Values (Western philosophy)</span>

The values that a person holds may be personal or political depending on whether they are considered in relation to the individual or to society. Apart from moral virtue, examples of personal values include friendship, knowledge, beauty etc. and examples of political values, justice, equality and liberty. This article will outline some current ideas relating to the first group – personal values. It will begin by looking at the kinds of thing that have value and finish with a look at some of the theories that attempt to describe what value is. Reference will be made solely to Western sources although it is recognised that many, if not all, of the values discussed may be universal.

Intellectual courage falls under the philosophical family of intellectual virtues, which stem from a person's doxastic logic.

References

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