In many ways, the virtue of courage seems to be one of the most
ubiquitous and simple virtues, and that apparent simplicity may result
in courage garnering less attention than many other virtues. Another
reason could be the ancient focus on courage as a masculine and
martial virtue, which brings into question its relevance in
contemporary society. However, the contributors to this volume show,
in vibrant and compelling ways, that all these presumptions are
invalid. They demonstrate that courage is anything but simple, as
important to women as to men, far broader than the martial realm, and
that it has great relevance to many contemporary concerns.The
Aristotelian perspective is the most well-known philosophical approach
to virtues. According to this approach, courage is flanked by the
vices of deficiency (cowardice) and excess (rashness) and can be
understood in terms of the values it maintains or protects, with
greater risks justified by greater importance of the value at stake.
But this is not the only way to understand courage: While some
chapters follow a neo-Aristotelian line in their presentation, others
also offer Stoic, Confucian, Christian or Thomist, Jewish, and African
perspectives, which bring other important insights about courage in
personal, political, and spiritual realms to the fore-such as the
communal, ethnic, and religious elements of courage. Other chapters
ask what place courage has in healthcare or contemporary career
development, and how courage might be applied to ordinary citizens as
well as leaders in contemporary liberal democracies. These essays make
it clear that reflections on courage are highly salient in the wake of
the recent COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing global political unrest, and
profound uncertainty about the future, as it is courage that enables
people to advance and protect so many human values, whether the risks
are physical, psychological, or social.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780197660041
Publisert
2025
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Oxford University Press Academic US
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter