Plato introduces the concept of courage as one of the main virtues present in the city he creates throughout The Republic. The virtues (wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice) are compartmentalized and found in specific classes or parts of the city. Plato states upfront that “Now whoever call the city brave or cowardly will think first about its armed forces.” So it follows naturally that courage finds its foundation in the auxiliary class of warriors. Those who protect and defend the city should and do represent this courage, because it is their given role to fulfill. The warrior class is, in fact, brought up and educated to be courageous. To describe the process of instilling this ideal courage, Plato draws a comparison of the process to
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Courage follows the ongoing theme of the doctrine of the mean and “is a mean state, in respect of fear and boldness.” This means it is the ideal balance between rashness and cowardice. Those who are courageous are so because they are capable of taking the good from both extremes. Aristotle states “The Brave are quick and sharp in action, but before are quiet and composed.” While men with courage are bold in the moment, they must also be thinking and calm in a respect to tame the more wild side of bravery. If one is too rash, he doesn’t truly exhibit human courage, just untethered boldness, which can be found in the simplest animals. On the other hand, being too timid also becomes a problem, as people are unable to act when necessary or fear trivial things. Similarly to Plato, Aristotle believes some fears are legitimate while others may not be. He, however, elaborates on what is worthy of fear. Disgrace is worthy because “he who fears this is a good man and has a sense of honour.”A person’s reputation is, for the most part, within his or her control, meaning disgrace would be a direct product of their actions. Trivial pieces of life such as poverty and disease should not be feared because they are not “attributable to his own fault.” Essentially stating that if something is completely beyond a person’s control, there is no reason to fear
Courage follows the ongoing theme of the doctrine of the mean and “is a mean state, in respect of fear and boldness.” This means it is the ideal balance between rashness and cowardice. Those who are courageous are so because they are capable of taking the good from both extremes. Aristotle states “The Brave are quick and sharp in action, but before are quiet and composed.” While men with courage are bold in the moment, they must also be thinking and calm in a respect to tame the more wild side of bravery. If one is too rash, he doesn’t truly exhibit human courage, just untethered boldness, which can be found in the simplest animals. On the other hand, being too timid also becomes a problem, as people are unable to act when necessary or fear trivial things. Similarly to Plato, Aristotle believes some fears are legitimate while others may not be. He, however, elaborates on what is worthy of fear. Disgrace is worthy because “he who fears this is a good man and has a sense of honour.”A person’s reputation is, for the most part, within his or her control, meaning disgrace would be a direct product of their actions. Trivial pieces of life such as poverty and disease should not be feared because they are not “attributable to his own fault.” Essentially stating that if something is completely beyond a person’s control, there is no reason to fear