Link to 1st Installment: http://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2017/11/defining-courage-1st-installment-6.html
My first installment, “Defining Courage- 1st
Installment,” mostly described a few attributes about what courage is and what
it really means to be courageous. It was specifically written about the
following attributes: feeling fear, following your heart, expanding your
horizons and letting go of the familiar, and facing suffering with dignity or
faith. This second installment will be tying together a lot of things we have
talked about in class. We have spoken about many philosophers throughout the
semester, but I have chosen a couple to talk about in this post.
Aristotle’s assertion is that his audience “must already
have begun to cultivate the virtues need not be taken to mean that no reasons
can be found for being courageous, just, and generous.” He believed that people
would need to have certain assumptions about what the case is before making any
kind of progress. I agree with what he is saying in the sense of you knowing
what it is you are being courageous about in the first place. As I mentioned in
my first installment, “The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity
and grace, making the best of circumstances” (Aristotle). I think he speaks
about “accidents” as in the situations that would test your courage and that
you should approach courage with dignity and grace. Do not let it affect you
and do not be discouraged by these certain situations. According to Aristotle,
you should pick yourself back up and keep going because these “accidents” will
happen whether we want them to happen or not. They are things that happen out
of our hands and are unexpected. The true test is whether we can combat these
situations with courage by having dignity and grace. Grace is defined as the quality
or state of being thoughtful or grateful. Aristotle was saying to accept these
challenges and be thankful that they came your way. It gives you a chance to
power through, which can be defined as an attribute of courage. By being thankful
throughout those tough times, you are being courageous and accepting challenges
that may be far beyond you. Aristotle also
mentioned that “We must experience these activities not as burdensome
constraints, but as noble, worthwhile, and enjoyable in themselves.” Not only
do we accept those hard challenges and fight through them, we should also enjoy
them. As Aristotle believes, it is not that we have no fear, but that we have courage. We know when we are scared of certain things sometimes, but we tend to go for them anyway.
In conclusion, courage can be thought of in many ways and
defined in many ways and attributes. The only definition to courage is the one
you choose to be the definition you want to live by. It is something that can be
thought of mentally or physically, and most of the time it is both. It is
something to be thought about with your heart, but also with your brain and
common sense. No matter how challenging some obstacles may get sometimes, there
is no reason to stop or be brought down by them. That is the time to rise and
realize that there is much more to be done about these situations.
References:
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I found this post very intriguing! I agree that courage is definitely something that can be viewed in many different ways. Courage is something that is often misinterpreted.
ReplyDeleteI especially like Aristotle's theory, where life seems much more like an adventure, both in the ups and downs, which simply have to be overcome and/or enjoyed. I think that's a good way to look at life.
ReplyDeleteThe format was nice and clean, and explained each ideology concisely. It even included reference material, which is great for further reading.