Who believes courage is essential to the meaning of life?

“I’ve always had the feeling that life loves the liver of it.”

The legendary poet and writer Maya Angelou passed recently at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was 86.

I first came across Angelou because of an odd habit she had: she liked to work in dirty hotel rooms. Sadly it took her passing for me to look a little deeper.

In a 1977 interview by journalist Judith Rich, found in Conversations with Maya Angelou, she reflects on the meaning of life and the most important virtue.

I’ve always had the feeling that life loves the liver of it. You must live and life will be good to you, give you experiences. They may not all be that pleasant, but nobody promised you a rose garden. But more than likely if you do dare, what you get are the marvelous returns. Courage is probably the most important of the virtues, because without courage you cannot practice any of the other virtues, you can’t say against a murderous society, I oppose your murdering. You got to have courage to do so. I seem to have known that a long time and found great joy in it.

Still curious? Check out: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou.

Fortitudo, by Sandro Botticelli

In the discussions of ethics, courage is considered to be a moral virtue. In the history of philosophy, the concept of courage as a moral virtue originates primarily from the virtue ethics of Plato and Aristotle. Medieval philosophers, who drew upon the ideas of Plato and Aristotle, integrated courage into their theistic contexts and conceived it as one of the cardinal virtues (courage or fortitude; wisdom or prudence; temperance; and justice).

Existentialists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries approached courage in relation to man’s attempt to restore his authentic existence. Courage is also popularly recognized and discussed as an important virtue in various aspects of social life.

Plato

In the Republic, Plato discusses courage in relation to his three parts of the soul (reason, spiritedness, and appetite). He defines courage as the virtue of the spirited part. Plato also divides his ideal polis into three parts—the moneymakers, the auxiliaries, and the rulers. The virtue of the auxiliaries (whose job is to protect the city) is also courage. Courage is the virtue, then, which controls the appetites (in an individual) or the greed of the moneymakers (in the city). Or, in other words, courage is what allows reason to rule, both in the individual and in society.

Aristotle

Aristotle provides a more detailed account of the virtues and courage in his Nicomachean Ethics. For Aristotle, a moral virtue or arête is a quality or state of excellence in the human soul that leads to good actions and the ultimate fulfillment of the human life, namely, happiness or eudaimonia. This quality of virtue is not a mechanistic instinct or impulse to act in a certain manner; nor is it a pietistic obedience to fixed rules or moral laws. Rather it is the building of a solid and stable disposition within the human being. Such a disposition is acquired over time through practice and the conscious cultivation of good habits. Ultimately the acquisition of the many virtues leads to a strong and healthy character.

In examining specific virtues, such as courage, Aristotle defined them as a “mean” between two extremes. Courage, for example, lies between the vices of cowardliness and rashness. Whereas the coward, when faced with danger, flees, the rash person rushes out headlong into the danger without thoughtful deliberation regarding the best course of action.

”Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence.” (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 3.6)

Aristotle links the moral virtues to the intellectual virtue of prudence or practical wisdom, because the fulfillment of the moral action requires the ability to read each specific situation accordingly. The soldier who exemplifies courage, then, is not merely willing to risk his life by rushing forward in battle. Rather he must be sufficiently composed, despite the danger, to choose the appropriate action in light of the circumstances. The virtue of courage, then, is that disposition which allows the soldier to think wisely in the face of danger. Whereas the cowardly or rash soldier will react blindly by either fleeing the danger or rushing toward it, the brave person will remain sufficiently composed so as to perform the courageous act.

Also, Aristotle points out that an action is virtuous only if the cause is a noble or worthy one. A mercenary, for instance, is not courageous because his motive for fighting is not the good of the homeland or the welfare of his fellow countrymen; rather, his motivation is for money. So although the mercenary may show a certain strength and clear-sightedness in the heat of the battle, his actions are not courageous. Only the soldier willing to sacrifice his life for the noble cause is courageous.

Others

The medieval schoolman took over Aristotle’s depiction of courage and the classical view that it is one of the four “cardinal” virtues (along with wisdom or prudence, temperance, and justice). A cardinal virtue is considered “pivotal” in that the other virtues are more or less derivative from them. Courage, then, is linked to fortitude in being able to hold one’s ground or stand up for one’s convictions regardless of circumstance.

In modern times courage has been approached in a variety of ways, depending upon the specific ethical system or approach. In existentialism, for example, courage is often connected to the notion of authenticity in which an individual takes responsibility for the meaning and direction of one’s life and so courageously accepts the existential anxiety of freedom and choice.

ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by J. A. K. Thomson. New York: Penguin, 1986. ISBN 0140440550
• Bennett, William J. The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993. ISBN 0671683063
• Kidder, Rushworth M. Moral Courage. New York: W. Morrow, 2005. ISBN 0060591544 ISBN
• Plato. Republic. Translated by G. M. A. Grube. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1992. ISBN 0872201368
• Tillich, Paul. The Courage to Be. The Terry lectures. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952.

External links

All links retrieved April 6, 2022.

General Philosophy Sources

Thank you, Jong Camallere, for this very interesting question.

Courage is a central element of many lists of virtues and it is certainly not difficult to understand why: people willing to take a stand for what they think is right serve as great role models. The adventures of great warriors also make for more exciting stories than the reserved and balanced lives of their counterparts who preferred to cultivate temperance, patience or kindness. Fostering the virtue of courage also had great practical implications for past societies that often required a sizeable number of young men willing to die for their country while repealing invaders or even doing some invading themselves.

And this is what makes courage problematic: we might be quick to name examples of brave heroes, but not every courageous person uses their strong character to fight for what we would call right. Soldiers attacking a neighbouring country might fight with plenty of courage (and they might even think that they are fighting for the right cause), but that does not make their actions commendable. Similarly, a violent criminal who stands up to a police force is certainly courageous, but it is not exactly the kind of courage we want. The ability to combat fear and uncertainty might be impressive and even praiseworthy, but only if it is used for the right reasons.

Similarly, not every courageous act is a good idea. Sure, we might all agree that it is cowardly to leave a group of friends behind in the face of danger, but the other extreme is also wrong: taking on five people in a fight all by yourself is not brave, but simply foolish. As with many virtues, courage makes sense only when applied in moderation.

That is why some philosophers believe that it is not enough to develop isolated virtues; they must be fostered all together, while learning an important skill: practical wisdom. Virtues such as bravery, humility and patience might give you an inclination to act in a certain way, but practical wisdom gives us the ability to distinguish what is required in a given situation and how to adapt our character traits to meet the moral challenge in front of us. There is no consensus on what practical wisdom actually means, but one thing is certain: the more virtuous you are and the more you try to apply practical wisdom, the easier it gets. Experience helps in all paths of life.

But saying that practical wisdom is the most important virtue would be cheating, because it could be seen as more of a skill than a virtue. I would still not root for courage, however, because it is only really useful when conflict with others arise, regardless of whether these conflicts are physical or intellectual in nature. Nobody needs to be brave when there is no threat to their life or values. I would say that we would be better off cultivating the virtues of care, friendship and justice. Who knows, if we focus on what we have in common and how we can help each other, then perhaps the ability to defend our values and beliefs would turn out to be quite overrated.

What do you think? Is courage the most important virtue? Let us know in the comments.

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Image: Achilles during the Trojan War