PRDV231: Elements of Ethical Leadership

God Speed by Edmund Leighton

Courage, (also bravery or valor) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. 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, 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.

In the Western tradition, notable thoughts on courage come from the philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, and Kierkegaard; in addition to Christian beliefs and texts. In the Hindu tradition, mythology has given many examples of bravery, valor, and courage with examples of physical and moral courage exemplified. According to the Hindu religion, bravery and courage are in the blood of all Indians. In the Eastern tradition, the Tao Te Ching, the classic text written by the Chinese philosopher Laozi (c. 500BC), offered some thoughts on courage.

 

Characteristics of Courage

Daniel Putman, a philosopher from the University of Wisconsin–Fox Valley, used Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics as the basis for his article, "The Emotions of Courage". He discussed the relationship between fear and confidence in the emotion of courage and states, "courage involves deliberate choice in the face of painful or fearful circumstances for the sake of a worthy goal". Putman concludes that "there is a close connection between fear and confidence".

 

Fear and Confidence in Relation to Courage

Fear and confidence can determine the success of a courageous act or goal. They can be seen as the independent variables in courage, and their relationship can affect how we respond to fear. Self-confidence involves knowing your skills and abilities and being able to determine when to fight fear and when to run away. According to Putman, the ideal in courage is not simply a rigid control of fear or denial of emotion. He states:

To understand how fear and confidence play into courage, we need to look back to Aristotle. According to Putman, Aristotle is referring to an appropriate level of fear and confidence in courage. Putman says, "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". The same goes for confidence in that there are two aspects to self-confidence in a dangerous situation: a realistic confidence in the worth of a cause that motivates positive action, and knowing your own skills and abilities. A second meaning of appropriate confidence then is a form of self-knowledge.

Unless you have an appropriate balance between fear and confidence when you face a threat, you cannot have the courage to overcome it. Putman states, "if the two emotions are distinct, then excesses or deficiencies in either fear or confidence can distort courage".

 

Possible Distortions of Courage

An excess or deficiency of fear or confidence can distort courage. According to Putman, there are four possibilities:

1. Higher level of fear than a situation calls for, low level of confidence. Someone like this would be perceived as a coward;
2. An 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. An 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 the fear that they 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. This distortion could be seen as a coping method for fear.
4. An excessively low level of fear and low level of confidence. This possibility can be seen as hopelessness. Putman says this is similar to a person on a sinking ship. This example describes someone who has low confidence and possibly low self-regard who suddenly loses all fear. The distortion of low fear and low confidence can occur in a situation where an individual accepts what is going to happen to them. In regards to this example, they lose all fear because they know death is unavoidable and the reason it is unavoidable is that they do not have the ability to handle or overcome the situation.

Daniel Putman believes fear and courage are deeply intertwined and rely on distinct perceptions: the danger of the situation, the worthiness of the cause, and the perception of one's ability.

 

Historical Theories

Ancient Greece

The Greek philosopher Plato (c. 428–348 BCE) laid the groundwork for how future philosophers would view courage. Plato's early writings found in Laches discuss courage, but fail to come to a satisfactory conclusion on what courage is. A debate among three leaders, including Socrates, mentions three aspects of courage: 1. a man willing to remain at his post and defend himself against the enemy without running away, 2. a sort of endurance of the soul, and 3. knowledge of the grounds of fear and hope.

All of the definitions in Plato's Laches 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.

In one of his later writings, The Republic, Plato gives more concrete ideas of how he defines courage. He describes civic 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". We also see ideas of courage as perseverance in Laches. Plato further explains this perseverance as being able to persevere through all emotions, such as suffering, pleasure, and fear.

Aristotle broadly discusses courage as a desirable quality in Nicomachean Ethics, where its vice of shortage is cowardice and its vice of excess is recklessness. Thucydides, a fifth Greek historian said, "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".

 

Ancient Rome

In the Roman Empire, courage formed part of the universal virtue of virtus. The Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero (106–43 BCE) lists the cardinal virtues:

 

Medieval Philosophy

Courage is referred to as fortitude in medieval virtue ethics, championed by Averroes and Thomas Aquinas and Roman Catholicism. According to Thomas Aquinas, among the cardinal virtues, prudence ranks first, justice second, fortitude third, and temperance fourth.  Part of his justification for this hierarchy is that "fortitude without justice is an occasion of injustice; since the stronger a man is, the more ready he is to oppress the weaker".

On fortitude's general and special nature, Aquinas says we can take the term fortitude in two ways. First, as simply denoting a certain firmness of mind, and in this sense, it is a general virtue, or rather a condition of every virtue, since as the philosopher states, it is requisite for every virtue to act firmly and immovably.

Secondly, fortitude can denote firmness only in bearing and withstanding those things wherein it is most difficult to be firm, namely in certain grave dangers. Therefore Tully says, that "fortitude is deliberate facing of dangers and bearing of toils". In this sense, fortitude is a special virtue because it has a special matter.

Aquinas argues that fortitude or courage is primarily about endurance, not attack: "fortitude is more concerned to allay fear, than to moderate daring". It is more difficult to allay fear than to moderate daring, since the danger which is the object of daring and fear, tends by its very nature to check daring to increase fear. Now to attack belongs to fortitude in so far as the latter moderates daring, whereas to endure follows the repression of fear. Therefore the principal act of fortitude is endurance, that is to stand immovable in the midst of dangers rather than to attack them.

 

Western Traditions

In Catholicism and Anglicanism, courage is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. For Thomas Aquinas, fortitude is the virtue to remove any obstacle that keeps the will from following reason. Thomas Aquinas argues that courage is a virtue which, along with the Christian virtues in the Summa Theologica, can only be exemplified with the presence of the Christian virtues: faith, hope, and mercy. To understand true courage in Christianity it takes someone who displays the virtues of faith, hope, and mercy. Courage is a natural virtue that Saint Augustine did not consider a virtue for Christians. Thomas Aquinas considers courage a virtue through the Christian virtue of mercy. Only through mercy and charity can we call the natural virtue of courage a Christian virtue. Unlike Aristotle, Aquinas' courage is about endurance, not bravery in battle.

The expressions of how to be living human as Christ did, taking Christ as our forbearance with Christian living, Paul had suggested these living virtues as three pairs; "For the rest, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is well-spoken of. … To be righteous is to be right without; to be pure is to be single in our intention and motive within. We must be right without and pure within".

Witness Lee explains the connection of honor through His grace; "A virtue mentioned in Philippians 4:8 is "honorable". Honor means dignity. With God in His divinity, it is a matter of His glory, but with us in our humanity, it is a matter of honor or dignity".

 

Eastern Traditions

The Tao Te Ching contends that courage is derived from love (慈故能勇) translated as: "One of courage, with audacity, will die. One of courage, but gentle, spares death. From these two kinds of courage arise harm and benefit".

Lao Tzu stated with regard to the Tao and the question of love:

Lao Tzu suggested having love makes a person courageous, and love is powerful, courage is higher when one has depth to their love; "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage".

In Hindu tradition, courage (shauriya) and bravery (dhairya), and patience (taamasa) appear as the first two of ten characteristics (lakshana) of dharma. In the Hindu Manusmṛti, it is alongside forgiveness (kshama), tolerance (dama), honesty (asthaya), physical restraint (indriya nigraha), cleanliness (shouchya), perceptiveness (dhi), knowledge (vidhya), truthfulness (satya), and control of anger ( akrodha).

Islamic beliefs also present courage and self-control as key factors for facing the Devil (internally and externally). Many believe this because of the courage the Prophets of the past displayed (through peace and patience) against those who despised them for their beliefs.

 

Modern

Pre-19th Century

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), the English philosopher, categories the virtues as moral virtues and virtues of men in his work Man and Citizen. Hobbes outlines moral virtues as virtues in citizens, that is virtues that without exception are beneficial to society as a whole. These moral virtues are justice (i.e. not violating the law) and charity. Courage, prudence, and temperance are listed as the virtues of men. 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 a strength of mind as opposed to a goodness of manners. These virtues are always meant to act in the interests of the individual while the positive and/or negative effects of society are merely a byproduct. This stems from the idea put forth in Leviathan that the state of nature is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short".

According to Hobbes, courage is a virtue of the individual to ensure a better chance of survival while the moral virtues address Hobbes's social contract which civilized men display (in varying degrees) to avoid the state of nature. Hobbes also uses the idea of fortitude as an idea of virtue. Fortitude is "to dare" according to Hobbes, but also to "resist stoutly in present dangers". This a more in-depth elaboration of Hobbes's concept of courage that is addressed earlier in Man and Citizen. This idea relates back to Hobbes's idea that self-preservation is the most fundamental aspect of behavior.

David Hume (1711–1776), the Scottish philosopher, divided virtues into two categories in his work A Treatise of Human Nature as artificial virtues and natural virtues. Hume noted in the Treatise that courage is a natural virtue. In the section "Of Pride and Humility, Their Objects and Causes", Hume clearly stated courage is a cause of pride:

Hume also related courage and joy to 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". 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".

Hume wrote what excessive courage does to a hero's character in the section "Of the Other Virtues and Vices":

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 (1813–1855), the Danish philosopher, opposed courage to angst, while Paul Tillich (1886–1965), the German-American philosopher, opposed an existential courage to be with non-being, fundamentally equating it with religion:

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973), the British author, 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:

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

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), the American author, famously defined courage as "grace under pressure".

Winston Churchill (1874–1965), the British statesman, stated, "Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all others".

According to Maya Angelou (1928–2014), the American poet, "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".

In Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), the German philosopher, 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".

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Source: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courage
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