Be Not Afraid

Define “Courage.”  Go ahead.  Try.  Really.  What is Courage?

I’d never given the matter much thought until now.  But, over lunch today I read Plato’s Laches, which is an extended discussion on the definition of Courage.  Reading the dialogue was easily more time spent thinking about the definition of courage than I have spent in the entire rest of my life doing so up until now.  Courage is just one of those things that you know it when you see it.  I never really tried to define it. 

Having read Plato’s Dialogue on the matter, I have even less of an idea how to define it than I did before I ever tried to define it.  Plato is like that.  You don't read Plato to Learn Something.  You read Plato to realize you Know Nothing. 

Then again, that isn’t entirely right.  I don’t really read Plato to learn how little I know.  I already know how little I know.  I, like Socrates, happily embrace my ignorance, and I, like Socrates, love nothing more than trying to figure things out even when there is no hope of actually figuring them out.  I like puzzling over things.  So, I enjoy puzzling over the definition of courage even though I don’t actually care what the definition of Courage truly is. 

Indeed, the only time I ever personally encounter the idea of Courage is when I make critical remarks about Administrators at Mount Holyoke or publicly make some remark that indicates that I am to the Right of Center in politics or actually Believe my religious beliefs..  Afterwards, someone will occasionally tell me that I was really brave to say such things.  I always scoff.  I have tenure.  The Administrators cannot fire me no matter what I say.  How much courage does it take to say things when your know there is no way to lose your job?  Guys who hold their ground while enemies are shooting explosives at them, guys who dash out in the midst of gunfire to drag a fellow soldier to safety, guys who stand up to oppressors at the risk of death, those guys have courage.  To say what I do is in any way comparable is a mockery of the term.

But, to return to Plato.  I read and enjoy Plato not because of the answer, but because it is fun to follow the meandering arguments leading nowhere. 

For example, this particular dialogue, in true Platonic fashion, doesn’t start with the discussion of courage.  It starts with trying to figure out whom one should ask for advice on a subject.  Is it the person who is skillful in the accomplishment of the matter or the person who is skillful in the means of the matter?  Consider leadership (a subject on which I am soon to commence teaching again): if you want to learn about leadership, should you consult the person who has led well or the person who has studied leadership well?  If it is the latter, then surely you want to know who the teachers were.  And do you evaluate the teachers by whether they led well or whether they studied leadership well?  At the end of the chain, it gets pretty obvious that if you want to know about leadership, you should consult leaders.  But, do leaders know how to articulate what they know?  There is no reason to assume they do.  If I want to study Courage, and I ask the Courageous about Courage, the will probably just say, ‘Well, my buddy was under fire and was going to die, so I went out and got him.”  That’s courage.  The Leader would say, “Well, there was this problem and I got everyone together and we fixed the problem.”  That’s leadership.  Is there any evidence that a study of leadership helps make leaders?  If my class from last year is any indication, then I feel perfectly safe in saying that studying leadership, while fascinating to be sure, does not in any way turn someone into a leader.  You don’t have to take my word for it—many of my students said the same thing.  The same things is true about teaching, by the way—the best teachers did not learn their craft in Education classes.  This is really obvious if you think about Courage—if you study Courage, will you become courageous?  Would anyone think so?  I doubt I am the least bit more courageous now that I have read Plato’s dialogue on Courage.  Indeed, I don’t even have more knowledge about Courage now that I have read this dialogue.  Yet I have studied Courage for an hour or so.  And I am glad I did so.