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What is the meaning of courage and
cowardice today? Courage conjures up the idea of knights in
shining armour saving damsels in distress from that beastly dragon. Today the
damsel is more likely to take up judo and the knight to be in distress for
not being gainfully occupied. This is not to say, however, that the idea does
not persist in some quarters. It is easy to understand why physical courage
should be at the forefront of our psyche. Brute force not only kept those
sabre tooth tigers at bay, but also the marauding half wits from the
neighbouring tribe. Brute force courage certainly had its moments in human
evolution. The courage people need today might conform more to what Alan Cohen said: It takes a
lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the
new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is
more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life,
and in change there is power. Impressive as a million people marching against
their government’s policies are or the scaling of industrial mammoths to draw
attention against industrial pollution is, today's courage should be sought
elsewhere. The steady nerves one
needs against the assault of consumerism requires a very modern type of
courage. The courage to fight self gratification. Today, not expecting one's
partner to fit some Cowardice today might not be equated with going
AWOL (absent without leave) or deserting in the face of enemy fire. Maybe
cowardice today might be taking drugs instead of trying to solve one's
problems. Or even not giving up one's fast lane career for a happier life. But why should today be different from other
times in the history of human kind? What has changed? A close look at this virtue and failing will
show us that they have always come in three flavours: physical, emotional and
intellectual. The scientist who proposes a paradigm shift
certainly needs intellectual courage. And the partner who employs reason as
opposed to emotional outbursts also requires a degree of emotional courage. There is no doubt that courage and cowardice
today, as in the past, are loaded with moral or ethical implications. An
attempt to explain courage in terms of behaviourism has led to anomalies as
Plato demonstrated. And a shift to explain these moral concepts by appealing
to one's moral character suggests that we have to be superwomen or supermen. The two main issues here seem to be: do courage
and cowardice rest on the outcome of one's actions? and
what are the psychological and epistemological make up of the hero or coward? But we also need to ask ourselves: why do we
need to have courage and why do we have cowardice? If courage and cowardice
are virtues and moral failings, then by definition we use these terms as
value judgements. We use these concepts to approve and disapprove of certain
human actions or dispositions. In a way, to include and exclude! But why should one show courage against
adversity and another cowardice under the same
conditions? After all, the motivating force is the same: survival. Maybe it
is because nature cannot make up its mind on this issue so it opted for both
solutions. If, therefore, nature cannot make up its mind
then surely those who today dare have the courage to be courageous will also
define today's meaning of courage and cowardice. Take care |