Aristotle on Courage Essay

Nelson Mandela said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear” (Brainyquote.com). This means that courage is shown by someone who conquers fear, like how Odysseus in The Odyssey shows courage by facing many obstacles with his crew on their journey back to Ithaca. Odysseus from The Odyssey, by Homer, shows courage throughout his journey. Odysseus is the protagonist from The Odyssey, who was determined to return to Ithaca after the Trojan War.

Explaining what he once heard to be from Plato, O’Brien uttered that proper courage came from wisdom and nothing else. For one to be a true sublime human being, they must demonstrate wisdom, justice, temperance, and lastly courage. As for a man without wisdom cannot be courageous, something a man without courage cannot contain any of the other three virtues (wisdom, justice, or even temperance). To Plato, wisdom is simply not just knowing what is right and what must be done, but following through with it. Courage, portrayed so perfectly by Tim O’Brien, is “the endurance of the soul in spite of fear” (140). The act of bravery is a battle within itself. Bravery is not about acting upon one’s desires, but instead setting them aside and putting the needs of the people around them first. It is about humbling yourself to your best ability, no matter how much fear one may obtain. There are people who simply just do not understand what is right due to their lack of intelligence, states O’Brien. Then there are so many men who might know what is right, however, they have too much fear to build up the courage to fight for it. As fear so often overtakes one’s whole self without even true recognition, courage is acting against that (136). All throughout the war, soldiers are constantly faced with fear as fear tends to come hand in hand with death.

A courageous action most often is associated with reaching a goal or task of importance, despite the dangers even risks associated with it (“Courage”). For any specific act to be considered truly courageous it must be reasonably thought about and determined that the goal is well worth the risk or danger (“Courage”). Courage so often can be put with words such as heroic, and bravery although with courage there can be a fine line between courageous acts and plain foolishness. All this can make people believe that courage only applies to physical actions. There are two kinds of courage moral and physical in many cases they are both displayed in a single courageous act; however, bravery must come before all else, because they are associated with reaching a task of importance regardless of risk.

True bravery is when you’re aware that the odds are against you, however, you have the ability to persevere through it. Even though you don’t want to complete the task ahead of you, an inner force brings you the motivation to do it. Sincere courageousness doesn’t always entail violence; in fact, courage comes from the choices made within that affect yourself or those around you. The outcome may not always be to your advantage, but

The definition of courage is “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery” (“courage”). Is courage valued today? If courage did not exist, then the world would not be effective. Courage fetches the preeminent decisions and the impulsive decisions out of people. Dismally, people are frightened to expose their true colors. Consequently, this negative reason hurts people. Despite the fear, some rise up to the challenge of courage. Some people practice courage in a negative way as in reckless decisions. How can one simple word have so many outcomes? The answer is human nature. Human nature is what changes things for people. Courage, true courage, is not as common. Courage should be common. Edmund Rostand, who wrote the play Cyrano de Bergerac, shows how courage is used in different ways. Through his characters named Cyrano de Bergerac, Christian de Neuvillette, Comte de Guiche and Roxane, Rostand demonstrates the different types of courage.

To also be just in killing himself, Paul must possess the virtue of courage. Socrates explains that courage is knowing what to

In the video Campbell also indicated that “Life is always on the edge of death, always, and one should lack fear and have the courage of life. That’s the principle initiation of all of the heroic stories.” Through this statement it is made clear that death is inevitable, so if we are to live, why live cautiously as opposed to living with courage

The second virtue that must be attained is courage. For the Individual, courage must be in the soul to resist temptations, and to be ready to fight. The same is for

In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle’s concept of courage directly relates to Prudence and Agnes from The Blue Sweater, as well as Meriam from Christian in Sudan sentenced to death for faith. Aristotle is concerned with the question of how to face fear courageously and live and die with nobility. Prudence, Agnes, and Meriam are all faced with fearful things. In this essay, I have created a separate analysis for each character discussing how Aristotle would likely react to the actions of these individuals. Aristotle would denounce Agnes’ actions as those of a reckless coward.

Aristotle believes that there are two kinds of virtue, one being intellectual and the other being moral virtue. He states that Intellectual virtue comes from being taught meaning we’re not born with it. Moral virtue on the other hand we develop as we grow and gain an understanding of life. “The stone which by nature moves downwards cannot be habituated to move upwards, not even if one tries to train it by throwing it up ten thousand times” (N.E. II.1) Right there he is talking about how if you are designed to do one thing, it is impossible to do the opposite no matter how hard you force it. He talks about how we gain our virtues by practicing them and using them on a regular basis. That is how we learn

Francisco Goya, Spanish painter, shows the exact meaning of what being courageous means, the value of being brave in the face of fear. Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu said “A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with no courage dares to live”. The quote says that a man with courage will live life to the fullest because he isn’t afraid of what could happen, he only cares about the now. A man with no courage will be afraid of living life just at the risk that something bad may happen, so he would rather play life safe and never take a risk. “The Third of May” a painting by Francisco Goya shows the courage of a man to stare death in the face and not show fear nor cower away. The man shows bravery while others cower around him. The painting shows courage through the use of the body language of the men in the painting, along with the dark colors to give the painting a sense of demise or misery that could have been felt when the event occurred.

Courage is a necessity to overcome fears and achieve a desired goal. Fear is something that exists in all of us. There is no hero or any particular courageous figure that is without fear. Being fearless is not required to be courageous, one simply has to look past or overcome their fears to possess this great quality. When overcoming fears and going against the norm, there are always risks involved. There are different types of risks that come about. Someone could risk life or limb, while others risk their reputation. Either risk is serious enough that a person must have courage to endure that particular risk. Courage can occur anytime, anywhere, and often in our everyday lives. Everyone will experience courage no matter how young,

Today, we are here to mourn the death of our dear friend Socrates. He was the one of the greatest thinkers of our time. He stuck to his beliefs, regardless to the criticism and judgment from the Greek government. He challenged the fundamental Greek belief systems, and refused to give in to the pressure of the Greeks. Socrates faced death without fear. He welcomed this new chapter in his life. With Socrates death, the question arises: Should we flee from death, or should we face it head on such as Socrates did?

Even with the anticipation of death linguring in his path, Socrates remained composed and curious. During his defense, he made it clear that death was nothing to fear, but rather an accepted inevitability of

To define courage simply as a virtue among other virtues only reveals the basic assumptions of human being, i.e. its own structures and values . Furthermore, for Tillich the common point in the history of the philosophy is that from Plato to Nietzsche the notion of courage had been taken as a problem of ethical consideration. To wit, it has been treated as if it has only the ethical character in which human being posit its But for Tillich, “courage is an ethical reality, but it is rooted in the whole breadth of human existence and ultimately in the structure of being