Great IdeasLiving well
Courage
Facing danger, pain or fear for the sake of something worth it.
The question
What is courage? Is it having no fear, or doing what is right in spite of fear?
How the books answer
Oldest first. Each stop is our own short summary of what the author argued; follow the link to the rung for the whole lesson.
c. 750 BC (from older oral poetry)
Homer, The Iliad
In the Iliad, Hector knows that Achilles is stronger, and his family begs him to stay inside the walls of Troy. He goes out to face Achilles anyway, for the sake of his city and his honor. Homer shows courage mixed with fear: at first Hector even runs, then turns and stands.
written after 399 BC
Plato, Euthyphro, Apology and Crito
At his trial, Socrates refuses to beg or to stop doing philosophy, even to save his life. He compares himself to a soldier who must not leave his post. A good person, he says, should ask only whether an act is right or wrong, not whether it brings danger.
c. 390s–380s BC
Plato, Laches
In the Laches, two Athenian generals try to define courage and fail. One says courage is standing firm in battle, but Socrates points out courage in sickness, poverty and the sea as well. They wonder whether courage is a kind of wisdom about what is truly worth fearing, and the dialogue ends without a final answer.
c. 340–322 BC
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle places courage between two faults: rashness, which fears too little, and cowardice, which fears too much. The brave person feels fear but faces it for a good reason and in the right way. Courage is a habit built by facing small fears first.
1851
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
On the Pequod, first mate Starbuck is brave but sensible. He wants men in his boat who respect the danger of a whale, because fearless men are reckless. Melville sets his steady courage against Captain Ahab's wild daring.
“"I will have no man in my boat," said Starbuck, "who is not afraid of a whale."”
1884–1885
Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Huck's bravest moment is not a fight. He has written a letter that would send Jim back into slavery, and everything he has been taught says sending it is right. He tears it up, ready to take the blame, because he will not betray his friend.
“I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it.”
1923
George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan
Shaw's play shows Joan of Arc, a farm girl who leads armies and stands up to bishops and nobles. In the play she will not deny the voices she believes guide her, even at the cost of her life. Shaw presents her courage as coming from faith, plain good sense and a refusal to give in.
For young readers
Courage doesn't mean you aren't scared. It means you do the right thing even when you are scared. A firefighter going into a burning house feels fear but goes in to help.
There is everyday courage too: telling the truth when you might get in trouble, standing up for a kid who is being teased, or trying something new at school. Huck Finn was brave because he stood by his friend when it was hard.
Talk about it
- Is someone who feels no fear brave, or just reckless? What does Starbuck think?
- Can you think of a time when telling the truth took courage?
- Socrates and Joan would not take back what they believed. When is it brave to stand firm, and when is it wiser to change your mind?
- Aristotle says courage grows by practice. What is a small brave thing you could practice?
- Who is someone you think is brave? What did they do?
Where else on the site
Every rung tagged with this idea:
These pages are our own short synthesis, written for families. They were inspired by Mortimer J. Adler's Syntopicon, the index of great ideas in volumes 1 and 2 of Great Books of the Western World, but the questions, summaries and groupings are ours, not the Syntopicon's. Short excerpts come from public-domain translations, credited where they appear.