What is Courage?

*Note*: Café Philo is a way of meeting interesting, inquiring people who enjoy talking about life's big issues and conundrums in a convivial atmosphere, rather than a heavy-duty philosophy seminar. Read more about our approach [here](https://www.meetup.com/cafe-philo-bristol-bath/).

Courage, Plato said, was one of the four great virtues, but what is it? Philosophers have argued for millennia, yet almost all agree on one thing: courage is not fearlessness. To feel nothing in the face of danger is not bravery but blindness. The real question is what courage *actually* is.

Plato's dialogue *Laches* explores the problem. Two generals try to define courage — first as standing one's ground, then as endurance — but Socrates shows each fails. Endurance without wisdom is just stubbornness. The dialogue ends unresolved, suggesting courage is harder to pin down than it looks.

Aristotle offered the most influential answer: courage is a mean between cowardice and recklessness. The courageous per