On Courage

ISBN-13: 9780415471060 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 192 str.

Geoffrey Scarre

Opis

What is courage and why is it one of the oldest and deeply admired virtues? Is courage characteristic of all cultures, or only some? Why is it so often portrayed as a ‘manly’ virtue?

In this insightful and crisply written book, Geoffrey Scarre examines these questions and many more. He begins by defining courage, asking how it differs from heroism, fearlessness and fortitude, and argues that we often ascribe courage too easily and asks why we often disavow our own courageous actions, instead explaining them as ‘just doing our duty’. He also asks whether courage can serve bad ends as well as good and why it is often portrayed as a solitary rather than group or collective virtue. On Courage explores the ideas of Aristotle, Aquinas and the Stoics, all of whom wrote about courage, as well as drawing on more recent examples of courage in politics and fiction, including the German anti-Nazi ‘White Rose Movement’, the Civil Rights Movement and Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim. 

Spis treści

1. Locating Courage  2. The Reality of Courage  3. Cardinal Virtue or Macho Vice?  4. Fortitude  5. Courage and Goodness  6. Courage: An Outdated Virtue?  Notes.  Bibliography.  Index

O autorze

Simon Critchley, Richard Kearney, Geoffrey Scarre