more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
The man who faces or fears the right things for the right reason and in the right way and at the right time is courageous.
Gist of Idea
True courage is an appropriate response to a dangerous situation
Source
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1115b18)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.128
A Reaction
This is the consistent view of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Their concept is much broader and more value-laden than ours. We are inclined to see courage as simply being undeterred by pain, and place the morality elsewhere.
Related Idea
Idea 23433 Humans need courage like a plant needs roots [Foot]
| 23907 | Courage is scientific knowledge [Socrates, by Aristotle] |
| 293 | Being unafraid (perhaps through ignorance) and being brave are two different things [Plato] |
| 5224 | Strictly speaking, a courageous person is one who does not fear an honourable death [Aristotle] |
| 5226 | True courage is an appropriate response to a dangerous situation [Aristotle] |
| 23905 | Courage follows reason, which tells us to choose what is noble [Aristotle] |
| 7283 | Great courage is not violent [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)] |
| 6014 | Panaetius identified courage with great-mindedness, preferring civic courage to military [Panaetius, by Asmis] |
| 17225 | In a free man, choosing flight can show as much strength of mind as fighting [Spinoza] |
| 6241 | Contempt of danger is just madness if it is not in some worthy cause [Hutcheson] |
| 20257 | Cool courage and feverish bravery have one name, but are two very different virtues [Nietzsche] |
| 15606 | Military idea: what does not kill me makes me stronger [Nietzsche] |
| 3848 | Cowards are responsible for their cowardice [Sartre] |
| 15640 | Courage is not a virtue, but the form of every virtue at its testing point [Lewis,CS] |
| 22400 | Courage overcomes the fears which should be overcome, and doesn't overvalue personal safety [Foot] |
| 20197 | The courage of an evil person is still a quality worth having [Zagzebski] |