Aristotle on Courage Essay - 1081 Words

In the 1939 movie classic, The Wizard of Oz, the Cowardly Lion is on a quest for the wizard to give him courage. He is afraid of everything and anything. However, in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle believes that courage is possible for all individuals. To gain courage one must have the inner qualities that will guide the courageous. The most important part of these qualities is to come to terms with death itself. Also, there are views of courage that are falsely perceived because they appear to be parallel with one another; nevertheless they are still very different. One must have many different inner qualities in order to achieve courage. First, one must not be concerned with death; death can be a beautiful thing. Aristotle†¦show more content†¦Excessive fearlessness and exceeding confidence, nor exceeding fear and lack of confidence (deficiency), does not make a courageous man. Aristotle talks about the courageous person, and that person acts with the awareness of the concept of honor and expresses it in a manner that is proportionate, knowing exactly what to really fear. Many different things can be frightening; one must decipher these things the greater fear from the lesser for the sake of the beautiful. (Aristotle 49, Sachs) To correctly aim at what is beautiful, one actively achieves moral virtue. The beautiful is the purest form of beauty and Aristotle states that beautiful action comes from a beautiful character and aims at beauty. Virtue aims at enduring fears and feeling confident with respect to rationality. Aristotle claims t hat the courageous man may fear things that not everyone feels the need to fear, but he will endure and overcome these fears and feel rationally confident. To become a courageous individual however, it is crucial that one be able to comprehend the fact of death. Dying is a beautiful thing when dying for defense and honor while facing real dangers that puts one at risk. Aristotle writes, â€Å"One would call courageous a person who is unafraid in the face of a beautiful death.†(48-49) This shows that Aristotle believes that the courageous person needs to stand firm on their values or beliefs no matter what the repercussions are. If one soShow MoreRelatedThe Ethics Of Engineer, Is It Virtuous?775 Words   |  4 PagesEthics in Engineer, Is it Virtuous? Aristotle developed a type of ethics that many use throughout the world, virtue ethics. Virtue ethics can be defined as an act that is right if, and only if, a virtuous person performs it for the right reason. That begs the question, â€Å"What is a virtuous person?† A virtuous person is someone who conforms to moral and ethical principles. For the sake of argument, morality is the difference between right and wrong. 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