COURAGE AS A VALUE AND VIRTUE
COURAGE AS A VALUE AND VIRTUE
Dimitris K. Bakas
The courage we all admire more than all virtues! Who does not admire heroes? Courage is overcoming fear, which is the most intense negative emotion. It paralyzes all mental and physical strength when fear takes hold of us. We lose it! We don't know what to do.. We are confused, helpless and unhappy. We stop living!
Courage coincides with bravery, for prowess, The virtue of heroes! Courage is what is rare and of great value, and not the cowardice or audacity that so abound.
Not every virtue, however, is worthy of applause! And courage can be useful to everyone and in everything. Both for better and for worse! Courage does not change the nature of the one who serves. A courageous vice remains wickedness and a courageous fanaticism remains fanaticism. Every virtue, however, always aims at the general good..
"Courage is not a virtue," said Voltaire, "but a quality that may be possessed by both criminals as much as big men". An asset, an excellence, but in itself it is not moral or immoral. Of course the same is true of intelligence and strength!
The Selfish courage is selfishness.. It Selfless courage is virtue and heroism.! What we value in courage is the altruismas or at least the selflessnessThat is, the self-abnegation of the same interest. In short, courage is morally worthy of appreciation only when placed at the service of another more than the immediate interest. "Self-love," said Kant, "without always being guilty, is the source of all evil."
But we would add: and the Love for others is the source of all good.! Indeed, the selfishness freed from the ego becomes generosity!.
The characteristic element of courage is mainly the relative insensitivity to fear, Faces fear with relative ease, perhaps even pleasure! The latter is characteristic of "I take risks."n" (tsamboukalids), the "tough ones", that we all know that they have nothing to do with virtue.
Courage commands respect, so if it didn't exist, then the morality would be impossible or ineffective. Fear is selfish., just as cowardice closes us within the ego! Courage distances us from the ego and we become purer and more just! The Ancient Greeks considered courage = bravery, a sign of masculinity.
Courage, as a virtue it is not the absence of fear: is ability to overcome fear, when it exists. It is the mental strengthThe bravery in the face of danger. It is not the passion of the cruel, but the courage of the meek and the heroes! It is the necessary condition of every virtueAll virtues require courage of soul, otherwise they will be only theoretical. But every virtue means, in any case, act. Η wisdom and every virtue is courage! All virtues require a effort and huge mental strength! Even the love requires strength of soul!
Courage is not an opinion or mere knowledge. It is decision to act, that's why logic is not enough. Courage means strong will to face suffering and dangers. Logic is universal and anonymous, while courage is singular and staff. It usually takes courage to think about the other person's position. It requires the spiritual courage we call morality conscience. This constitutes the courage of truth.
Each αλήθεια is eternal while courage has meaning in finite time and especially in the now. God doesn't need courage.! Maybe, and one really wise, who could live among immortal goods! So we must go out and overcome fear through courage.Fear paralyzes, even the act of fleeing!
Like every virtue, courage applies to the present. The past is a matter of knowledge and the future of faith, or hope, or imagination. Courage is necessary to face a danger or threat.., a present horrible situation. It has to do with will and not with hope. We hope for that which does not depend on us. We want that which it depends on us. That is why hope is a virtue for those who believe while Courage is a virtue for all people.
This of course does not mean that hope is always negligible! It is a given that hope can strengthen courage or support it.j. It is easier to be brave in battle when he hopes to win. But that does not mean that he has greater courage. More likely, we can think that the opposite is true: Because hope does indeed strengthen courage, there is a greater need to be courageous, when there is no hope.
The true hero is the one who will be able to face, not only the possibility of danger, which always exists, but also the lost cause or the certainty of death or even final defeat. It is the courage of the defeated and, when it exists, it is no less magnificent, neither less praiseworthy from that of the winners!
But why would anyone fight in such a case? Why should they? Because the opposite would be undignified! For the beauty of the gesture, which is beauty of morality and not of an aesthetic order! "The truly brave act for the beauty of the feat.» (Aristotle). Or a the love of goodness or from a sense of responsibility and honorDespite the hatred or hope of the moment that can naturally exist, the courage is still not only possible, but also more necessary and above all virtuous!
The present always has a duration, it is more than a moment. It is an expansion and stretching towards the future. Life itself is a whole endeavor. We must bear the tension, without breaking. It is necessary to face an, alas, present, horrible misery. Not an indefinite evil. A definitive present misery. It takes courage to endure a disability that makes the present last. The blind need more courage than the sighted, and not only because life is more dangerous than fear. There is even a case to the extent that the pain is greater than fear. Then it takes more courage to endure the pain. It's true that it takes courage to commit suicide, but it takes even more to endure torture.!
When we no longer hope for anything, nothing scares us anymore! A act of desperationThat is why it is said: "according to true military art, we should never lead our enemy into a hopeless position, because such a situation makes him put in all his might and have more courage" (Rabelais).
One can expect anything from someone who fears nothing! And what is there to fear when one has lost all hope? The military and diplomats know this well and take their measures. Every hope of ours is an advantage for the other. Despair becomes our own advantage!
"You must have lost all hope to be beyond extremely brave"I have seen officers and non-commissioned officers who believed their lives were over. Their cheerfulness scared me." Alain , who was a brave soldier).
It is not certain, therefore, that only optimists can be courageous. It is certainly easier to take on our responsibilities or endure when hope or success is visible. However, The easier something is, the less courage it requires.
The courage is a virtue, but There is no virtue without an excellent measure.. This does not mean, of course, that one cannot be very courageous, just as a risk cannot be excessive. It means that the Risk must be proportional to our goalIt's nice to risk one's life for someone. noble cause. But it is absurd to risk one's life for trifles or because one is fascinated by danger. This is what separates the courageous than the risk-taker. Courage, like every virtue, is at the peak between two abysses. The middle ground that ensures quality. Courage is between of cowardice and cowardice.
Boldness, even excessive, is virtuous only if tempered by prudence:
Fear helps, reason provides! "The virtue of a free man is equally great, when avoiding dangers, as well as when he defeats them he chooses retreat with the determination and readiness of spirit that chooses battle" (Spinoza).
Let us always keep in mind that the strongest it's not courage but the good luck. But who chooses their fate easily? Usually subordinateFor every person, there are things they can and cannot endure: whether or not they will encounter in their lifetime what will make them collapse is a matter of luck, or at least a matter of luck and no character only. The heroes , when they are sober, they know it: that makes them humble onesas far as they are concerned and magnanimous towards others.
Each virtue is based on and dependent on the other, and all virtues are based on courage.
Dimitris K. Bakas
April 16, 2021