Questions about Courage
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is the definition of courage according to researchers and psychologists?
Researchers 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 the presence of fear. Ten experts in psychology described it as the ability to act for a meaningful cause despite experiencing fear associated with a perceived threat that exceeds available resources. Four necessary components are intentionality, personal fear, a noble or good act, and personal risk.
How did Aristotle define courage in Nicomachean Ethics?
In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle described courage as the mean between the vices of cowardice and recklessness, discussed primarily in the context of soldiers fighting for a noble cause. He held that appropriate courage requires a level of fear and confidence that matches the actual danger of the situation.
What is the difference between courage and fortitude?
Presbyterian theologian William Swan Plumer defined the distinction: courage faces and resists danger, while fortitude endures pain. Courage is for action; fortitude for suffering. Thomas Aquinas ranked fortitude third among the cardinal virtues after prudence and justice, and distinguished it from fearlessness, which he saw as liable to become recklessness through short-sighted audacity.
What did Winston Churchill and Maya Angelou say about courage?
Winston Churchill stated that courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all others. Maya Angelou held that courage is the most important of the virtues, because without it no other virtue can be practiced consistently.
What is clinical courage and when did the term emerge?
Clinical courage emerged as a term in the 2000s to describe the practice of medicine outside a clinician's usual scope of practice or beyond relevant clinical guidelines, in order to provide essential care where no alternative exists. It has been discussed specifically in relation to rural generalists, paramedics, and general practitioners. The opposing concept is clinical recklessness, in which acting outside one's competence exposes patients to risk or harm.
What does the Tao Te Ching say about the source of courage?
The Tao Te Ching states that courage is derived from love, expressed in the phrase 慈故能勇, translated as 'From love one gains courage.' This grounds courage in emotional connection rather than in martial or intellectual virtue, distinguishing it from most Western philosophical accounts.
How many Victoria Crosses have been awarded and what are they given for?
A total of 1,356 Victoria Crosses have been awarded to individuals, with 13 awarded since World War II. The Victoria Cross is the highest military award available to members of the British Armed Forces and Commonwealth armed forces, granted for valour in the face of the enemy.