Courage (original) (raw)

Courage is the ability to confront fear in the face of pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. As a virtue, courage is convered extensively in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, its vice of deficiency being cowardice, and its vice of excess being boldness.

The precise view of what precisely constitutes courage not only varies between cultures, but between individuals. For instance, some define courage as lacking fear in a situation that would normally generate it. Others, in contrast, hold that courage requires one to have fear and then overcome it.

There are also more subtle distinctions in the definition of courage. For example, some distinguish between courage and foolhardiness thusly: a courageous person overcomes a justifiable fear for an even more noble purpose. If the fear is not justifiable or the purpose not noble, then the courage is either false, or foolhardy.

See also Virtue, Bushido, Chivalry.

Courage is also the brand name of a British brewery company

Courage may also refer to the animated cartoon character, Courage the Cowardly Dog