Courage: How Great Minds Defined the Bravest Human Quality

 

Courage: The Philosophical Way

Courage is the word. A word with infinite motivation, inner strength, and the decisive key to success. Great minds like Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato defined courage as a part of a larger pursuit of truth. It’s not only about bravery or herculean physical strength. Courage is beyond that. It defines a man and his inner spirit. It defines the true motivation. It’s the core of moral intelligence that helps in questioning the wrongs and standing by the truth. “Courage is the first of human qualities,” Aristotle, the renowned philosopher, had rightly noticed, “because it is the quality which guarantees the others.” In a similar tone, Plato, the great teacher of Aristotle, defined courage as moral steadfastness—not mere physical bravery. He said, “Courage is knowing what not to fear.” A courageous man knows the difference between what to fear and what not to. It gives the inner strength to act rightly and even stand by the unpopular truth.

 Knowing what not to fear

Courage is not always heroic action; it can be endurance. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Courage is not a quality of the body. It is of the soul.” According to Nelson Mandela, the symbol of unwavering courage who redefined freedom, a brave man is not he who doesn’t fear but he who conquers the fear itself. "Courage" is the word that can define every revolution. It was the driving force behind Earnest Che Guevara that helped him overthrow the tyranny of the Batista government of Cuba.

Courage is the calmness and dignity in the face of chaos. It is the courage that leads towards a peaceful mind. It gives true and sustainable concrete meaning to life. Courage is the persistence against defeat. It is the refusal to accept limits. The word "courage" speaks about honor and self-respect and overrules existing in comfort and anonymity. Courage and defiance  

The One Letter of Robert Falcon Scott: Courage

The story of courage can never be completed without the name of Robert Falcon Scott and his South Pole expedition. Scott was from Scotland—a land that gave birth to explorers like Scott. He was determined to be the first man to reach the South Pole. But fate is often cruel. Roald Amundsen, another  explorer from Norway, reached the pole a few days before Scott. With heavy hearts, Scott and his men turned back toward home.  The return was terrible. The brutal polar wind cut through them. The harsh cold unbearable climatic condition made their return journey a hell. Their struggle was immense and without mercy. The Pole offered no kindness, no shelter. Their food was running out, their bodies giving up. One by one, Scott watched his friends fall to the ice. The white silence grasped them. In the end, he was alone in a tent. He stuck there for a few days. The wind outside was screaming like a giant dark beast. There was no food left, no water, not even a scrap of warmth to hold onto. He had nothing to eat, nothing to drink. Not a single meal remained to keep him alive.

He knew then that he would not walk out of that frozen place. In those last hours, Scott wrote a letter to his old friend, James Barrie, the Scottish writer. His words were heavy but steady. And when the letter was done, he ended it with one word, written in capital letters—a word that stood against the storm, against death itself, and against all odds of life: “COURAGE.”

Bibliography:

1. Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by W. D. Ross, Oxford University Press, 1925.

2. Plato. The Republic. Translated by Benjamin Jowett, Oxford University Press, 1892.

3. Gandhi, Mahatma. Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 23. Publications Division, Government of India, 1967.

4. Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom. Little, Brown and Company, 1994.

5. Scott, Robert Falcon. Scott’s Last Expedition. Smith, Elder & Co., 1913.