Courage.

A student taking a philosophy class had a single question on his final: “What is courage?”
The student wrote: “This.” signed it, and turned it in.

lol.
but what is it anyway, and do you think you have it?

I think courage is to “face your fear”

After looking at the definition of courage, after that the definition of brave, fearless, and confidence, I’ve decided that courage is confidence to the point that fear does not affect you.

Courage is the ability to do the imposible, even though you are afraid, even though you get no help, even though everything is set against you.

Too bad courage has on a majority been mixed out of the gene pool.

“Courage is the ability to do the imposible” … how does that work? a) surely the whole definition of the ‘impossible’ is that it is not do-able. b) some things are impossible which probably don’t require much courage. like, shouting “WILLY” 1,000,000 times within a second. that’s not very brave, but it’s probably impossible. and you can’t do the impossible anyway.

how am i SO incoherent?

Flashman (an expert on courage, or the lack of it) describes courage as “risking everything to gain nothing, not an act of passion but for the sake of bravery.”

For me, courage means having what it takes to go for what you believe in despite the opposing pressures.

I agree with Magius, courage is aiming for perfection in an imperfect world.

  • doing something your afraid of

courage is one of the many draughts we have on sale at the ram. and yes, i’m spending far too much time at work. social life? don’t be ridiculous.

a woman lifting a car to save her baby is doing the impossible and documented.

…but is that courage or just an act made possible by adrenaline and influenced by love…?

I think Githa’s assertion is right.

maybe the definition is in the antonym of courage, cowardly?

as i look it up i get this…

well, that doesnt tell us anything, so i will put the definition of coward…

does that mean that noble actions that do not face pain and danger are not couragous?


“what is your favourite colour?” -bridge keeper

Performing an action despite the presence of fear

hahaha, classic lou. i am spending FAR too much time at work too. i eat sleep and live coffee beans.

i agree with whoever it was who said that courage is doing somehting you are afraid of. particularly if its selfess, eg the mother/baby thing.

before i’m bombarded with arguments, i appreciate that it could be seen as a partly selfish act for a mother to want her child to live, but on a basic risking your life for others level, its selfless.

I, for one, think that student was right. What’s the point of giving long fancy definitions, when the simple act stands at hand?

I was wondering, when a person is down and they are low on courage, what strategies do you use to get it back?

Aristotle said that one is not courageous unless they have a habit of doing courageous acts. Do you agree?

What about people without courage? Can it be brought out in them? Can they bring it out in themselves?

How much of courage do you think is conscious and how much is dependant on environment inciting you by just the right conditions at the time you are there?

Just some thoughts…

What’s your take?

Being couragous is merely having good timing or a satisfying outcome in a difficult situation.
A warrior who kills a lion with his hands is not couragous especially if hes protecting his intrests…his life, his family…if he flees then yes hes cowardly…but if the next day he does it again…saves his family from a revenge seeking lion…and goes back to his family expecting things to carry on naturally with no reward forthought through his actions…yes then he is very couragous…but not for killing the lions…but for merely living his life.
~JL