Calculated Courage

We have looked at the things that in our power to do and the areas where we are helpless. We have power to choose virtue or vice. As either becomes a habit, it is harder to break and our choices become limited because of the character we have formed. It is like eating junk food; the more you eat the more you crave it and the less ability there is to exercise. The actions we can take that bring the most benefit to our lives are considered virtues. The things that hinder us from being happy are vices. Good and bad; evil or righteous, aren’t applicable in a strict sense since most people associate them with moral, religious, political or legal standards. We are interested in simple objective truth. A modern term for vice that might be closer would be things that suck. Virtues are the things that are cool.

Let’s examine courage, its virtue and vices.  We have stated that it is a target somewhere between fear and confidence. The fear is toward disasters and evil coming upon us. We have this expectation that something bad could happen. It is normal to fear things that realistically are disasters such as poverty, disease, disgrace, being alone and death. It is reasonable to fear these things and irrational not to fear them. Someone who doesn’t care about disgrace is considered shameful for instance. But we might call this person brave because he doesn’t care in a similar way a brave person is fearless before danger. We shouldn’t fear things that we have no power over such as poverty and disease if they aren’t a result of vice, yet we might call someone who faces these brave, but facing these things is expected of everyone. A person can also be a coward in one area such as war and yet be courageous in financial matters and be very giving. A person who fears for his family isn’t considered a coward and a man who nonchalantly takes a beating for wrongdoing isn’t considered brave but an idiot. The ultimate bravery could be facing death for a noble cause. Death being the ultimate sacrifice and the noble cause would be freedom for a nation or protecting loved ones. If the cause is escaping from a lost love or financial ruin, death becomes an act of despiration rather than courage.  Some are used to living in dangerous situations and it takes less bravery for them to face it.  Calculated courage in tough situations seems to be the criteria for bravery.

Aristotle mentions the fearlessness of the Celts in the next section as we peel back what it really means to be brave.