“French philosopher Comte-Sponville (2001), arguing for the universality of courage, reminded us that while fears and the acts to defeat them vary from society to society, the capacity to overcome fear ‘is always more valued than cowardice or faintheartedness.’
D. Putnam offered an inclusive account of courage by delineating three types: physical, moral, and psychological. Physical courage is the type involved in overcoming the fear of physical injury or death in order to save others or oneself. Moral courage entails maintaining ethical integrity or authenticity at the risk of losing friends, employment, privacy, or prestige.
Psychological courage includes that sort required to confront a debilitating illness or destructive habit or situation; it is the bravery inherent in facing one’s inner demons.... Courage has an inner life as well as an outer one. That is, courage is composed of not just observable acts but also the cognitions, emotions, motivations, and decisions that bring them about. Thus... the ubiquity of courage, although most of the examples are of the physical or soldier-in-battle variety... we mean Cicero’s (1949) definition: Courage is ‘the deliberate facing of dangers and bearing of toils’ (De Inventione, II.LIVE. 163). We mean courage to include physical valor, yes, but also integrity and perseverance – any act of willfully overcoming into what it is so easy to slip: security, comfort, complacency. We mean doing what is right, even when one has much to lose. Or, to return to Comte-Sponville (2001) Without courage we cannot hold out against the worst in ourselves or others.’” (C. Petersen and M. Seligman, The Character Strengths and Virtues Handbook)
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