120 philosophical essays you must read in your life

Chapter 53

Chapter 3 Section 10

[Germany] Kant
A person who does not panic can be called a courageous person, while a person who is not afraid of danger is called a brave person.A man who can keep his courage in danger is brave, but a rash man is reckless. He dares to take risks because he does not know the danger.He who knows the danger and dares to take risks is daring; it is daring to take the biggest risk when the chance of success is less than half.The Turks equate warriors with outlaws.And cowardice is dishonorable discouragement.

Panic does not mean that it is easy to fall into fear, it is timidity that makes it easy to fall into fear.Shyness is a state, an accidental factor, mostly due to reasons attached to the body, and it is not calm enough in the face of a sudden danger.When a general in pajamas suddenly learns that the enemy is approaching, he may let the blood coagulate in the atrium for a moment; but if the doctor finds acid water in the stomach of a general, the general will be recognized for the timid.But courage is always a temperamental trait, whereas courage is founded on principle and is a virtue.In this way reason can give to a resolute man strength that even nature is incapable of giving.The panic in battle even produces a salutary bowel movement, which has given rise to an ironic Western idiom.It should be noted, however, that those sailors who rushed to the lavatories at the call to battle were later brave in battle.This situation can even be shown when the heron meets the falcon.

Patience is never brave.Patience is a feminine virtue because it has no strength to resist.Rather, it is hoped that through habit the suffering will not be apparent.Thus the man who groans under the scalpel, or in the attack of gout and gall-stones, is not cowardly or weak in such cases, any more than he who walks and bumps a stone that crosses the street, is as respectful of it. Cursing is just a kind of emotional venting, and in this venting, the natural instinct tries its best to disperse the blood blocked in the heart by shouting.The patience shown by the Indians in America, however, was in style.When they were surrounded, they dropped their weapons and quietly let themselves be slaughtered without asking for forgiveness.Isn't courage more demonstrated here than in Europeans who resisted in such circumstances until the last man died?And I think it is only a savage vanity, which they are said to express by forbearance in preserving the honor of their race, because their enemies cannot compel them to cry or sigh to show their failures.

【Together with you】

"Brave" is a tempting term, and it is often associated with glory. There is a British saying that "the greater the adventure, the more glory".

However, there is one thing to be clear: bravery is by no means a reckless braggadocio and opportunistic attempts to get away with it.

Courage is a purposeful, planned challenge to your wits and abilities.

Heroes can be admired by the world because they dare to take great risks that ordinary people dare not take, and do great things that ordinary people cannot do.They risked their lives and gave up worldly glory and wealth just to affirm the meaning of life.

A fable once said:

Spring is coming.Two seeds lay in the fertile soil and began the following conversation:

The first seed said: "I'm going to grow! I'm going to put my roots down, I'm going to 'get ahead', I'm going to let the stems and leaves sway in the wind, and I'm going to sing of the coming of spring... I'm going to enjoy the warmth of the sun on my face, and the morning dew The joy of dripping petals."

So it tries to grow upwards.

The second seed said, "I'm not that brave. If I take root down, I may hit a hard rock. If I drill up hard, I may hurt my fragile stem. If I grow a sprout, there is no guarantee that I won't die." I will be eaten by snails. If I bloom and bear fruit, I am afraid that children will uproot me when they see it. I'd better wait until the situation is safer before making plans."

So it continued to huddle in the soil.

A few days later, a hen went to the garden to peck here and there, and the seed entered the hen's belly.

A brave and fearless life is destined to be a colorful life; while a cowardly and evasive person is destined to have a bleak life in a forgotten corner.Simplicity is an upright and unselfish quality of the soul.

(End of this chapter)