Courage

This essay examines the connection between fear and the psychopathologies it can bring, looking in particular at the fears that individuals experience in the face of the climate crisis and environmental degradation more generally. We know that fear can be a source of good and ill. Fears of climate-change-driven heat waves, for instance, can spur both activism and denial. But as of yet, we don’t have a very good understanding of why eco-fears, as we will call them, shape our thoughts (...) and actions in the ways that they do. More importantly, we also don’t really understand why some experiences of eco-fear can lead to depression, PTSD, and other psychopathologies. In an effort to make some progress on this front, we look more closely at the role that feelings of agency – our general feeling that we have enough ability to address the threats and challenges we face – play in shaping our fears. (shrink)

Abstractabstract:This paper offers a new interpretation of courage in Plato's Republic. Despite the attention that this dialogue has received in the past, scholars have been disinclined to explore the metaphysics of the virtues. I argue that courage is, by its very nature, a δύναμις of the sort described in book 5. In particular, I argue that courage is the power over reason's correct practical deliberations about what one ought to do and that it accomplishes the preservation of these deliberations in (...) the face of appetitive threats. I then explore the implications this has for the moral psychology of the virtuous agent and the question of who can be genuinely courageous. (shrink)

An important virtue of Emotion and Virtue is its careful and sophisticated discussion of the central yet ill-understood virtue of courage. However, Sreenivasan’s treatment of courage raises as many questions as it answers; several of these can be brought into sharper focus by comparison with the argument of Plato and Aristotle on the topic.

Once anesthetized, patients are inherently “compliant” with surgical interventions because they can no longer intervene on their own behalf. In their target article, Minkoff et al. (2024) reasonabl...

This insightful book uniquely charts the events, experiences and challenges faced by teachers during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic including periods of national lockdowns and school closures. Research-based and evidence informed, this key title explores the multiple media outputs created by teachers in a variety of different socio-economic contexts. The authors reflect on their stories through a series of themed analyses, as well as describe and discuss key issues related to the enactment of teacher professionalism in challenging times. With fascinating (...) vignettes and interview extracts that reinforce the idea that teachers can manage rather than survive, this book unveils a strong sense of moral purpose, professional identity, commitment, care, and resilience. It will be of interest to teachers, headteachers and teacher educators internationally. (shrink)

Background Nursing students must graduate prepared to bravely enact the art and science of nursing in environments infiltrated with ethical challenges. Given the necessity and moral obligation of nurses to engage in discourse within nursing ethics, nursing students must be provided a moral supportive learning space for these opportunities. Situating conversations and pedagogy within a brave space may offer a framework to engage in civil discourse while fostering moral courage for learners. Research Objective The aim of this research is to (...) explore the influence of a structured self-assessment tool called the ESA “Engagement Self-Assessment” on the alignment and creation of a brave space in a nursing ethics course. Research Design This study used an exploratory, cross-sectional survey design. Participants and Study Setting Data from 39 undergraduate nursing students enrolled in a nursing healthcare ethics & law course using the ESA were recruited. Ethical Considerations Participation was voluntary and informed without coercion. Written consent was obtained prior to participation. Research ethics approval was obtained by the Institutional Research Ethics Board of the recruited participants (Ethics # 2022-23-03). Findings The ESA provided structured self-reflection on the impact of shared vulnerability within a brave space. However, commitment to a brave space was not strongly influenced by the ESA, but rather by a mutual “commitment to others.” Conclusion A teaching tool such as an ESA can be used to facilitate instructor expectations of civil discourse and discussion of difficult topics. Rules of engagement such as those found in brave spaces can help transform fear of vulnerability into authentic growth for learners. A morally supportive learning space can support critical opportunities for ethical development. This study provides insight into how self-assessment and the use of a brave space in nursing ethics education can facilitate a morally supportive learning space. (shrink)

While regarding twentieth century French philosophy as a protracted conceptual war, Badiou has largely avoided an encounter with Foucault on the philosophical battlefield. According to Badiou, Foucault constructs a history of systems of thought starting from something other than philosophy (linguistic anthropology, postmodern sophism, democratic materialism) and, in so doing, exits the philosophical battleground. The present essay explores the prospect of rapprochement between these two thinkers, drawing attention to their shared concern with the theme of true life. For Foucault and (...) Badiou, the life in truth and for truth compels the subject to invent a new way of being at the site of exception to what there is. Although Badiou remains ambivalent about the Foucauldian notion of the philosophical subject, he ultimately endorses Foucault’s conception of the philosophical life, which calls for courage insofar as it summons the human animal to think differently and become other than what one is. (shrink)

Le chef-d’oeuvre de Tillich, Le courage d’être, propose une théologie de l’affirmation de soi en Dieu en remettant en question les symboles traditionnels du théisme. Mais la foi qu’il propose, qualifiée d’« absolue », est dépourvue de symboles concrets pour ce courage d’être. Or, dans un autre texte, Tillich souligne l’inconvénient de la théologie critique qui démythologise les symboles chrétiens et il met en avant l’intérêt de la psychologie analytique (Jung) pour la théologie. Nous montrons dans cet article qu’une reprise (...) différenciée de l’archétype du Soi jungien permet de le rapprocher du « Dieu au-delà de Dieu » de la foi absolue. Sur cette base nous proposons un prolongement concret de cette foi avec l’interprétation jungienne des symboles présents dans nos rêves. (shrink)

During the English Civil War and subsequent Restoration, beekeeping provided a ready set of moral examples for those seeking answers about the ‘natural’ structure of society. The practice itself also underwent a number of substantial changes, moving from a traditional craft practice to a more knowledge-focused, technologically complex one. The advent of glass-windowed hives in the latter half of the sixteenth century allowed intellectuals from across the political spectrum to directly observe bees as a way of gathering knowledge about how (...) to understand the divine plan and, with that understanding, improve human society. (shrink)

Background The urgency of ensuring adequate moral courage in clinical nursing practice is evident. However, currently, there are few formal intervention plans targeted at enhancing the moral courage of nurses. Aim To develop a training program for improving the moral courage of nurses using the modified Delphi method. Research design A modified Delphi study. Participants and research context From November to December 2022, a literature review and expert group discussion were conducted to develop a preliminary training plan framework. From January (...) to March 2023, a two-round Delphi survey was performed, and a consensus was reached regarding the plan through online questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Ethical considerations This study was approved by the institutional ethics committee (No. 138, 30 August 2021). All participants provided written informed consent. Results Consensus was reached on eight themes and 33 items to strengthen the moral courage training program for nurses. Conclusions Guided by a unified goal of moral education, a multi-level and acceptable intervention plan was designed to enhance the moral courage of nurses. (shrink)

Epistemic Courage is a timely and thought-provoking exploration of the ethics of belief, which shows why epistemology is no mere academic abstraction - the question of what to believe couldn't be more urgent. Jonathan Ichikawa argues that a skeptical, negative bias about belief is connected to a conservative bias that reinforces the status quo.

This is a review of Debra Hawhee's book, A Sense of Urgency. The uncertainty and magnitude of climate change make it difficult to talk about its impact in ways that can help us understand and confront what we face. Hawhee's example-driven book aims to show how the rhetoric of climate change is changing rhetoric itself for the better. While there is much to learn from Hawhee's discussion, the book carries a misplaced optimism about how climate change rhetoric is being used--and (...) abused. The review illustrates this with examples from, for instance, Sen. Ted Cruz's weaponizing of the words of climate change activists and boutique tour company's efforts to capitalize on the first memorial to a dead glacier. (shrink)

In this article, Seamus Mulryan contends that dialogue about questions that matter to a body politic require the ethical virtue of courage, which is distinct from the virtue of intellectual humility, and this is of central importance in the education of members of a pluralist society. Mulryan begins with Robert Kunzman's theory of Ethical Dialogue and departs from it through Hans-Georg Gadamer's theory of hermeneutic experience and Charles Taylor's claims about the inextricable relationship between self-intelligibility and moral spaces. Finally, Mulryan (...) illustrates the promises and perils of courageous dialogue as an educative activity by way of Plato's Meno, Protagoras, and Gorgias. (shrink)

Esther provides an opportunity to study female leadership through a Christian perspective, highlighting how to rise to leadership from a position which inherently has little influence (Davidson, 2013). By using her social sensitivity and self-control, Esther finds the courage to self-promote and save the Jews of Persia. Through a social and cultural textural study of the King James Version of Esther 4:13–5:8, an example of spiritual, female leadership will be provided to leaders of contemporary organizations. Additionally, it will be proposed (...) that social sensitivity be tested and added to the definition of transformational leadership to evolve the understanding of effective leadership in organizations. (shrink)

I am very grateful to Rachel Barney and Christian Miller for their helpful and challenging comments on my book, Emotion and Virtue (Princeton, 2020). My response aims first to clarify and then to fortify my position on some of the many excellent points they raise in this symposium.

Background Whistleblowing is an action that particularly requires moral courage. Understanding the relationship between nurses’ levels of moral courage and their whistleblowing approaches is important for reducing adverse situations in healthcare services. Objectives This study aims to understand and analyze the relationship between nurses’ levels of moral courage and their whistleblowing approaches. Research design This is a descriptive and correlational study. Methods The study sample consists of 582 nurses actively working in a province in northwest Türkiye. Research data were collected (...) using an Information Form, the Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale, and the Whistleblowing Scale. Ethical considerations Ethical approval from the ethics committee, institutional permission, and informed consent from the participants were obtained for data collection. Findings Nurses were found to perceive their moral courage as high, and their whistleblowing levels were at a moderate level. There was a significant and moderate relationship between participants’ levels of moral courage and whistleblowing levels ( p <.05). Conclusions The findings emphasize the importance of promoting moral courage and creating an appropriate environment for exposing ethical violations. This study can contribute to the development of strategies to enhance nurses’ moral courage and foster a more ethical working environment in healthcare services. (shrink)

Background Moral courage is the ability to defend and practice ethical and moral action when faced with a challenge, even if it means rejecting pressure to act otherwise. However, moral courage remains an unexplored concept among middle eastern nurses. Aim This study investigated the mediating role of moral courage in the relationship between burnout, professional competence, and compassion fatigue among Saudi Arabian nurses. Research design Correlational, cross-sectional design following the STROBE guidelines. Participants and research context Convenience sampling was used to (...) recruit nurses ( n = 684) for four government hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Four validated self-report questionnaires (Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale, Nurse Professional Competence Scale-Short Form, Maslach Burnout Inventory, and Nurses Compassion Fatigue Inventory) were used to collect data between May to September 2022. Spearman rho and structural equation modeling analyses were employed to analyze the data. Ethical considerations The ethics review committee of a government university in Ha’il region, Saudi Arabia, approval this study (Protocol no.: H-2021-012; Approved: 08/022,021). Participants were fully explained the study aims, and consent was voluntarily secured. Results The emerging model showed that burnout had a direct and positive influence on compassion fatigue, while professional competence had a direct, negative effect on compassion fatigue. Moral courage had a small and direct but negative influence on compassion fatigue. Mediation analyses also indicated that moral courage significantly mediated the indirect effects of burnout and professional competence on compassion fatigue. Conclusion Moral courage can be a crucial aspect in preserving the psychological and mental health of nurses, particularly under stressful conditions. Therefore, it is advantageous from an organizational and leadership standpoint to implement measures such as programs and interventions to foster moral courage among nurses. (shrink)

The Heart of the Matter explores the legacies of Ilyenkov and Vygotsky, two Russian thinkers who marshalled their passion for truth, enlightenment and independent thought to understand the human mind, not just for the sake of knowledge alone, but to help create the conditions in which human flourishing can become a reality for all. The book renders their theories intelligible against the dramatic social and historical background in which they lived and worked, bringing their ideas into dialogue with themes and (...) thinkers in Western philosophy to reveal how they illuminate philosophical issues of enduring significance. (shrink)

This two-volume work examines far-reaching debates on the concept of courage from Greek antiquity to the Christian and mediaeval periods, as well as the modern era. Volume 1 explains how competing accounts of epistêmê, rational wisdom, and truth dominated classical antiquity. Early Christian and mediaeval thinkers, in contrast, favoured fortitude founded on faith and fear of God over philosophical reasoning left to its own devices. Volume 2 turns to theories of courage from the early modern period to the present. It (...) shows how the twin laws of polis and physis are at the heart of post-medieval thought. Courage is found at the crossroads of love and dread, freedom and fate, happiness and suffering, as well as power and submission to the ruling order. The later influence of evolutionism, existentialism, and the social and natural sciences on moral philosophy is also addressed at some length. The protection of people's best interests, the passions and powers of the human will, and the rule of active energy in all aspects of life supplant courage formerly viewed through the lens of reason or faith, or a combination of the two. These new ideas, paradoxically, herald the end of the ethics of courage. They also undermine the courage of ethical thinking. Courage is no longer an end in itself, nor is it a means to happiness "at the end." Regardless of what Gandhi, Tillich, and Foucault have to say about the topic, late modernity and the global age witness a marked loss of interest in courage as an idea worthy of conceptual investigation. Debates about the moral implications of courage give way to the value-free science of resilience, which studies how people can recover from past trauma and find wellness, primarily in the realm of physis. (shrink)

This two-volume work examines far-reaching debates on the concept of courage from Greek antiquity to the Christian and mediaeval periods, as well as the modern era. Volume 1 begins with Homeric poetry and the politics of fearless demi-gods thriving on war. The tales of lion-hearted Heracles, Achilles, and Ulysses, and their tragic fall at the hands of fate, eventually give way to classical views of courage based on competing theories of rational wisdom and truth. Fears of the enemy and anxieties (...) about suffering and death are addressed through the lenses and teachings of medicine, geography, military history, moral philosophy, and metaphysics. For early Christian thinkers, the ethics of fear, fate, and fealty to the Almighty supplant the voice of reason and the wisdom of virtue. Much of Christian doctrine's history is a long journey towards bridging the gap between Greek philosophy and devotion to God and spirits in heaven. Some Church Fathers attempt to dispel the fear of suffering through a joyful craving for martyrdom and the eternal blessings that follow. Others show openness to one or more of the following principles: the abstractions of moral philosophy, the metaphysics of Gnostic enlightenment, the gift of free will and intentionality, the growth of church authority and hegemony, and the intrinsic worth of life on Earth. Augustine, Ambrose, Cassian, and Chrysostom play a central role in revisiting the foundations of Christian fortitude along some or all of these lines. They lay the groundwork for the scholastic adaptations of faith-based rationalism proposed by Peter Lombard, Philip the Chancellor, Albert the Great, and Thomas of Aquinas. The mediaeval period ends with church dissidents and Protestant Reform leaders condemning Rome’s corruption and calling for a return to early Christian faith and the courage of godly fear, submission, suffering, and fate. (shrink)

A significant theory of corporate social responsibility is the Stakeholder Model. Within this model, entities make decisions that impact all stakeholders. Occasionally, the decision that is made ultimately impacts one stakeholder differently than another. Negative data by its very definition is seen as problematic for any organization as it pertains to its stakeholders. When confronted with the data or the potential of the data being negative to desired outcomes or directions of programs, an organization’s leadership may be faced with an (...) ethical conundrum. Should the data be included and shown to all stakeholders? Or should the data be buried and avoided even to the point of engaging in questionable conduct in the management of paperwork and record keeping? (shrink)

BackgroundHaving moral courage is a crucial characteristic for nurses to handle ethical quandaries, stay true to their professional obligations towards patients, and uphold ethical principles. This concept can be influenced by various factors including personal, professional, organizational, and leadership considerations. The purpose of this study was to explore the predictors of moral courage among nurses working in hospitals.MethodsIn 2018, an observational cross-sectional study was carried out on 267 nurses employed in six hospitals located in the northern region of Iran. The (...) participants were selected through a simple random sampling technique. To collect data, a demographic information form was used along with two questionnaires. The first questionnaire was a standard survey on moral courage, while the second questionnaire was designed to assess the ethical climate. Linear regression was used to assess the predictors of moral courage.ResultsNurses had an average moral courage score of 87.07 ± 15.52 and an average moral climate score of 96.12 ± 17.17. The study showed that 16% of the variation in moral courage scores among nurses was explained by ethical climate and monthly overtime hours.ConclusionThis study underscores the significance of establishing an ethical work environment and minimizing overtime hours in order to enhance moral courage among nurses. These findings carry weight for both nursing practice and organizational policies focused on fostering ethical conduct within healthcare settings. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:My Circumcision Decision:A Journey of Inquiry, Courage and DiscoveryLaurie EvansBefore becoming a mother, I was teaching parents to massage their babies and offering trainings for professionals. To promote my work, in 1984, I exhibited at the Whole Life Expo in New York City. When I returned to my booth after a break, I noticed someone had left a pamphlet by Edward Wallerstein, who wrote "Circumcision: An American Health Fallacy." (...) Since I am naturally curious, I read it. Disturbed, I thought of tossing it. But, how could I be teaching a nurturing technique for newborns and avoid this topic? As a Jewish woman, how would I make the decision for my own future sons? Little did I know this one piece of paper would lead me on a path of inquiry that would change my life.One of the presenters at this conference was Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, an Orthodox pediatrician. Although Dr. Mendelsohn realized some parents would allow circumcision for religious reasons, he was honest enough to dispel every medical myth and explain the harm of removing normal functioning tissue. He also described possible complications from removing the foreskin, including infection, hemorrhage, and although rare, death.To learn more, I read whatever I could find on the topic. I attended midwifery and childbirth conferences to promote my work and prepare for when I became pregnant. I decided to ask about circumcision, but the conversations were awkward and I received little helpful information. I found that circumcision was a taboo topic; few people wanted to talk about it. Why? Doctors who perform circumcisions, nurses who recommend it, and parents who consent to it do not want to face the reality of the harm they cause. Instead of facing the pain, they avoid the topic, and the procedure continues. Most men do not want to discuss or think about their own circumcisions. I learned that we need to have compassion during these conversations.A Jewish ritual ceremony (bris) is performed on the eighth day after the boy's birth, and includes circumcision and prayers. At a bris, friends and relatives are invited to observe and celebrate. It is part of my heritage. I tried to talk to my relatives about the information I had found, but everyone refused to discuss it. This avoidance made my decision very difficult. Then, for the first time, I was invited to a bris; I didn't want to attend. However, I had been at the boy's birth, so I decided to go to offer support. During the circumcision, my reaction was intense: I wanted to take the baby and run. I felt like an accomplice. I wanted to grab people by the [End Page E2] shoulders and scream, "How dare you?" I vowed I would never attend another bris, and I made the decision to write publicly instead of anonymously.I still had doubts, because I didn't know one intact adult male. What if I were to have a son, keep him intact, and he developed a complication later in life? I have learned that doctors are not taught non-invasive solutions, so most circumcisions performed after infancy are unnecessary. A Jewish doctor recommended a circumcision for a seventynine year old man who had a persistent rash that would not respond to treatment. Our organization suggested that he apply topical acidophilus. After he followed the recommendation, the rash disappeared, so he canceled the circumcision.In 1985, I became pregnant. Like many women I spoke to, I didn't want to face the circumcision decision, so I prayed for a girl. Our childbirth educator shared about male circumcision, which led to conversations with my husband. These tense interactions ended in an impasse. I wondered how this decision would impact my marriage. I experienced immense relief that my firstborn was a girl. Time was on my side.One day while walking in New York City, I serendipitously crossed paths with my childbirth educator. She was going to the United Nations to oppose female circumcision. I was in my 30s and had a master's degree in teaching. I had studied massage and anatomy. Yet, I had never heard about this tribal ritual. I had... (shrink)

In the years following its outbreak in 2019, COVID-19 changed the health-care system structures, the context of professional activity, and nurses’ moral performance. The present study aimed to examine the moral distress and moral courage of Iraqi nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional and correlational study was conducted in 2021 on 168 nurses selected by convenience sampling methods. Data were collected by self-reported instruments including a demographic questionnaire, the Professional Moral Courage (PMC), and the Moral Distress Scale (MDS). Data (...) were analysed using descriptive statistics, the Spearman, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, and SPSS version 22. Most nurses showed a moderate level of moral distress (98.80%) and a high level of moral courage (99.40%).The dimension of multiple values had the highest mean (12.45 ± 1.47) and endurance of threats had the lowest mean (9.15 ± 1.79). There was a statistically significant correlation between moral distress and moral courage (P = 0.007, r = - 0.2), and moral distress and the dimensions of endurance of threat (P < 0.001, r = - 0.26), going beyond compliance (P < 0.001, r = - 0.037), and moral goals (P < 0.001, r = - 0.173). A statistically significant relationship was also found between moral distress and work shift, position and gender (P < 0.05), and between moral courage and position (P < 0.05). We concluded that nurses need more organizational support in terms of protective facilities, job security and organizational incentives to be able to show ethical behaviors. (shrink)

Research shows that people often do not intervene to stop immoral action from happening. However, limited information is available on why people fail to intervene. Two preregistered studies (Ns = 248, 131) explored this gap in the literature by staging a theft in front of participants and immediately interviewing them to inquire about their reasons for intervening or not intervening. Across both studies, most participants did not try to stop the theft or even report it to the experimenter afterward. Furthermore, (...) many participants reported confusion and inattention as precursors to nonintervention, yielding insight into what inhibits moral courage. (shrink)

This is a book about moral choice and courage. It is not, however, an abstract work of moral philosophy or psychology. Rather it is an exploration of the choices made by real individuals faced by moral quandaries. Monroe and her students interviewed people who faced moral dilemmas to see what motivated them to make difficult moral choices. These ranged from public officials dealing with issues of honesty and equity in public policy, to individuals facing private difficulties as well as people (...) who choose to focus their lives helping those in need. What explains a courageous choice? Monroe argues that moral courage comes from one's understanding of their identity. As she found in her previous work on rescuers of Jews during the holocaust, the people she interviews in this book felt that they had no choice but to take a courageous stand. Monroe explores how this identity develops through the life stories of these individuals. (shrink)

This article highlights the debate concerning courage in politics, originating in Athens as the theme of parrhēsia, i.e., truth in democracy, and how the discourse is both enabled and constantly threatened. How does this debate affect the “drama of truth”, in the Anthropocene? From ancient Greece to the present day, philosophical discourse has been seated in necessary interaction between the access to the truth sought after by sciences, political powers and structures, and the formation of êthopoiêsis whereby individuals constitute themselves (...) as the moral subject of their conduct. Modern authors and contemporary philosophers such as Tillich and Foucault especially, invite us to do so in their work on the concept of courage. Through Foucault’s political concepts, we endeavour to construct two dimensions for the courage of truth, ethical (an ethical parrhēsia), and by extension, ecological (an ecological parrhēsia) linked with scientific research and growing awareness of the Anthropocene. (shrink)

In the late 18th century, Immanuel Kant attracted attention for his criticisms of colonialism, that problematized the established boundaries between civilization and barbarism, and chastised English colonialism in particular. Some years later, however, in his lectures on Anthropology, he ventured some oddly racist views, concerning the specific differences between European and Indigenous peoples. Kant's racism is by now well‐documented. However, less attention has been paid to the peculiarities of that racism, and especially its foundations in a theory of virtue. His (...) racism comes to light especially in his discussions of the virtues of patience and courage, and in passages which have rarely been subject to critical scrutiny still to this day. This article starts out from an analysis of the functions of Kant's concepts of courage and patience in his account of European versus Indigenous difference, with a view to interrogating the politics of virtue in the present, where this discussion is reoccurring in new guises. What Kant considered courage has now been devalorized, while what he considered patience is now valorized. This reversal of perspectives on what counts as virtuous has occurred in correlation with a reversal in western perspectives on Indigeneity. Such that contemporary accounts of courage are correlated with contemporary accounts of Indigeneity. These reversals of perspective must be understood in context of the transformation which philosophical anthropology has undergone under the duress of the Anthropocene. Contemporary works by Dipesh Chakrabarty and Jonathan Lear are of great relevance to this correlated transformation and will be discussed here. The article analyses what both Chakrabarty and Lear understand by courage today, its relevance to the Anthropocene, and points out the limitations of their theories. Ultimately the article argues for a rethinking of the definition of courage as a political virtue of the Anthropocenic present. (shrink)

Background Social responsibility can motivate disaster relief nurses to devote themselves to safeguarding rights and interests of people when facing challenges that threaten public health. However, few studies focused on the relationship of moral courage, job-esteem, and social responsibility among disaster relief nurses. Objective To explore the influence of moral courage and job-esteem on the social responsibility in disaster relief nurses and clarify the relationship model between them. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 716 disaster relief nurses from 14 (...) hospitals in central China through an online survey, including moral courage scale, job-esteem scale, and social responsibility questionnaire. The data were analyzed by Pearson’s correlation, and the mechanism of the effect of moral courage and job-esteem on social responsibility was completed. Ethical considerations This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University (Approval Number: 2019016). Results Disaster relief nurses’ moral courage positively impacted social responsibility (r = 0.677, p < 0.01), and moral courage could affect social responsibility through the mediating role of job-esteem. Conclusion Job-esteem mediated between moral courage and social responsibility among disaster relief nurses. Nursing managers regular assessment of nurses’ moral courage and interventions such as meetings and workshops can reduce moral distress, foster morally courageous behavior, enhance job-esteem, and improve social responsibility performance among disaster relief nurses. (shrink)

Background The global COVID-19 pandemic has challenged nurse leaders in ways that one could not imagine. Along with ongoing priorities of providing high quality, cost-effective and safe care, nurse leaders are also committed to promote an ethical climate that support nurses’ moral courage for sustaining excellence in patient and family care. Aim This study is directed to develop a structure equation model of crisis, ethical leadership and nurses’ moral courage: mediating effect of ethical climate during COVID-19. Ethical consideration Approval was (...) obtained from Ethics Committee at Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt. Methods A cross-sectional design was used to conduct this study using validated scales to measure the study variables. It was conducted in all units of two isolated hospitals in Damanhur, Egypt. A convenient sample of 235 nurses was recruited to be involved in this study. Results This study revealed that nurses perceived a moderate mean percent (55.49 ± 3.46) of overall crisis leadership, high mean percent (74.69 ± 6.15) of overall ethical leadership, high mean percent (72.09 ± 7.73) of their moral courage, and moderate mean percent of overall ethical climate (65.67 ± 12.04). Additionally, this study declared a strong positive statistical significant correlation between all study variables and indicated that the independent variable (crisis and ethical leadership) can predict a 0.96, 0.6, respectively, increasing in the dependent variable (nurses’ moral courage) through the mediating impact of ethical climate. Conclusion Nursing administrators should be conscious of the importance of crisis, ethical leadership competencies and the role of ethical climate to enhance nurses’ moral courage especially during pandemic. Therefore, these findings have significant contributions that support healthcare organizations to develop strategies that provide a supportive ethical climate. Develop ethical and crisis leadership competencies in order to improve nurses' moral courage by holding meetings, workshops, and allowing open dialogue with nurses to assess their moral courage. (shrink)

Background: Empathy and moral courage are important virtues in nursing and nursing ethics. Hence, it is of great importance that nursing students and nurses develop their ability to empathize and their willingness to demonstrate moral courage. Research aim: The aim of this article is to explore third-year undergraduate nursing students’ perceptions and experiences in developing empathy and moral courage. Research design: This study employed a longitudinal qualitative design based on individual interviews. Participants and research context: Seven undergraduate nursing students were (...) interviewed during or immediately following their final clinical placement. Ethical considerations: The Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD) approved the study. Participants were informed that their participation was voluntary and were assured confidentiality. They were informed that they could withdraw from the study at any time, without providing reasons. Findings: Affective empathy seemed to be strong among third-year undergraduate nursing students. However, they tried to handle the situations in a ‘professional’ way, and to balance their emotions. At the same time, they expressed how difficult it can be to show moral courage when confronted with poor patient care. In addition, they spoke about a lack of role models during clinical practice and supervision. Conclusions: Undergraduate nursing students are in a vulnerable position throughout their journey to become professional and to develop empathy and moral courage. The professional socialisation and forming of professional empathy and moral courage among nursing students, may be seen as a complex interaction of formal and hidden curriculum, where role models play an important role. We argue that the main theme ‘Vulnerable students – a journey towards professional empathy and moral courage’ may cover the longitudinal project as a whole. This vulnerability is something both teachers and supervisors should be aware of when following up with students in their clinical placements. (shrink)

Michel Foucault defined parrhesia as “the free courage by which one binds oneself in the act of telling the truth.” Could telling objective untruth also be a parrhesiastic act, insofar as it requires courage and initiates subjectivation? Climate deniers, anti-vaccinationists and other groups that delegitimize the authority of science present themselves as courageously standing up against the dominant discourse, as rebellious subjects who speak the inconvenient and unaccepted truths. It is not difficult to prove that their truths are untruths, but (...) it remains problematic to distinguish true courage from its simulacra. This article argues that Foucault’s investigations of truth, subjectivity, and power become of great use in the face of today’s confusion. The phenomenon of post-truth cannot be explained simply as the product of postmodern relativism. The will-to-truth, along with the will to constitute oneself as a truth-telling subject, persists, requiring critical analysis more than ever. What may prove politically efficient is to engage in the kind of critique that would account for actual power relations and unmask false courage rather than debunk specific concepts or ideas. (shrink)

This article argues that the citizens of Hegel's state cannot maintain themselves as politically free because they are susceptible to mutual enslavement. I demonstrate this by focusing on the Roman republican background of Hegel's constitution, the potential trajectory of its dissolution and the accompanying means of its cyclical fortification through courage. Hegel, by integrating aspects of the Roman mixed constitution also adopts the idea of decadence within his conception of civil society. After locating the source of decadence in the contractual (...) relations of peace and the bourgeois inability to overcome the fear of death, I go on to argue that war for Hegel provides a theatre where freedom may be regenerated through courage. However, I also show that modern wars do not provide sufficient means of perpetuating Hegel's constitution. To demonstrate this, I distinguish three forms of war: colonial, limited and total war, arguing that only the latter offers a solution to decay of political disposition and loss of freedom, but that—by being itself susceptible to decadence—it cannot salvage Hegel's state from dissolution and reduction to contractual relations. (shrink)

Background: The 21-item Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale was developed and validated in 2018 in Finland with the purpose of measuring moral courage among nurses. Objectives: The objective of this study was to make a Dutch translation of the Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale to describe the level of nurses’ self-assessed moral courage and associated socio-demographic factors in Flanders, Belgium. Research design: A forward–backward translation method was applied to translate the English Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale to Dutch, and a pilot study was (...) conducted to improve readability and understandability. A non-experimental, descriptive cross-sectional exploratory design was used to conduct a survey. Descriptive analysis was used. Participants: The data were collected from a convenience sample of 559 nurses from two hospitals in Flanders. Ethical considerations: Ethical approval was obtained from the university ethics committee, permission to conduct the study was obtained from the participating hospitals. Participants received a guide letter and gave their informed consent. Findings: The readability and understandability of the Dutch Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale were positively evaluated, and the scale revealed a good level of internal consistency for the total scale (α =.914) and all subscales. Nurses’ mean score of the 21-item Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale was 3.77 (standard deviation = 0.537). The total Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale score was associated with age (p <.001), experience (p <.001), professional function (p =.002), level of education (p =.002) and personal interest (p <.001). Discussion and Conclusion: The Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale was successfully translated to Dutch. The Flemish nurses perceived themselves as morally courageous, especially when they were in a direct interpersonal relationship with their patients. Acting courageously in ethical dilemmas that involved other actors or organizations appeared to be more challenging. The results strongly suggest the important role of education and ethical leadership in developing and supporting this essential virtue in nursing practice. (shrink)

This paper focusses on the experiences of Indian lesbians and gays who are subjected to unethical acts of workplace bullying which get manifested through constant guesswork, comments and questioning about their sexual identity in the hostile Indian context. Given this, LG participants usually opt for secrecy and lead a double life, using ‘passing’ and ‘covering’ strategies to manage economic, social and psychological risks. Nonetheless, this paper rewrites the negative tenor of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transexuals research by underscoring how LG (...) participants move from fear to courage in their endeavour to live authentic lives while considering the broader organizational and social context. We argue that their courage is manifested mainly through deliberate micro-disclosures and a sense of defiance which can be enhanced if organizations are designed to be more inclusive and ethical. Consequently, participants defined inclusive ethical organizations as having conducive environments with trustworthy, supportive, secure, fair, unbiased and safe non-discriminatory policies open to the idea of diverse sexual orientations. Our findings point to the fact that, first and foremost, organizations must be crafted and sustained to be courageous within a hostile social climate, for employees to overcome their fears. (shrink)

Hope is more than a wish. It is true. It is real. Lee Strobel's trademark investigative style gives readers the confidence to know that true, dependable hope is found in Jesus Christ and that living with hope will make a life-changing difference in people's lives each day.

In these brief remarks, I sketch Aquinas’s account of humility, courage, and magnanimity. The nature of humility for Aquinas emerges nicely from his account of pride, and it also illuminates Aquinas’s view of magnanimity. For Aquinas, pride is the worst of the vices, and it comes in four kinds. The opposite of all these kinds of pride in a person is his disposition to accept that the excellences he has are all gifts from a good God and are all meant (...) to be given back by being shared with others. Aquinas believes that all the virtues come together as a set. Consequently, a person who has humility also has courage. Aquinas takes the deepest kind of courage as a gift of the Holy Spirit. On his view, taken as a gift, courage manifests itself in a disposition to act on the settled conviction that one will be united to God in heaven when one dies. It is not easy to see how magnanimity could be a virtue if humility is. The solution is to see that for Aquinas the honor for the Christian virtue of magnanimity is not honor from human beings but honor from God. A person can have the virtue of humility and still strive for the greatest honors, as Aquinas sees it. The conclusion of Aquinas’s account of humility, courage, and magnanimity is this: it is morally obligatory to go for glory, because glory is a matter of being honored by God as faithful. (shrink)

How may progressive political theorists advance the Enlightenment after Darwin shifted the conversation about human nature in the 19th century, the Holocaust displayed barbarity at the historical center of the Enlightenment, and 9/11 showed the need to modify the ideals and strategies of the Enlightenment? Kantian Courage considers how several figures in contemporary political theory--including John Rawls, Gilles Deleuze, and Tariq Ramadan--do just this as they continue Immanuel Kant's legacy. Rather than advocate specific Kantian ideas, the book contends that political (...) progressives should embody Kantian courage--a critical and creative disposition to invent new political theories to address the problems of the age. It illuminates Kant's legacy in contemporary intellectual debates; constructs a dialogue among Anglo-American, Continental, and Islamic political theorists; and shows how progressives may forge alliances across political and religious differences by inventing concepts such as the overlapping consensus, the rhizome, and the space of testimony. The book will interest students of the Enlightenment, contemporary political theorists and philosophers, and a general audience concerned about the future of the relationship between Islam and the West. (shrink)

Nurses need to be resilient to be able to endure their working conditions, and their moral courage can affect their resilience. This work aimed at studying the relationship between resilience and professional moral courage among nurses working in hospitals.This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 375 nurses working in teaching hospitals in the city of Ardabil in Iran in 2019. Data was collected using the following questionnaires: a demographic questionnaire, Sekerka et al. Moral Courage Scale and Davidson-Connor Resilience Scale. The (...) reliability of the Davidson-Connor Resilience Scale, and Moral Courage Scale were found to be 89% and 85% using the test-retest method. The data were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test, variance analysis, and linear regression using the SPSS software version 24.In participating nurses, mean scores were 6.35±0.5 for total moral courage and 79.35±0.35 for resilience, respectively. A positive and significant relationship was observed between resilience and professional moral courage. Given the positive and significant relationship between resilience and professional moral courage, nurses require to have the high moral courage to enhance their resilience. Determining factors affecting moral courage and resilience, as well as finding strategies and creating an appropriate moral climate can increase nurses' morally courageous behaviors and resilience. (shrink)

The contours of Nietzsche’s socio-moral framework are idiosyncratic when compared to contemporary neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics. Nietzsche starts with a naturalistic conception of drives, instincts, and types of people. He then moves in a normative direction by identifying some drives and instincts as virtues – at least for certain types of people in particular social and cultural contexts. Much of Nietzsche’s understanding of virtue must therefore be understood relative to a type of person and the context in which they find themselves. (...) Nietzsche pays special attention to his own type in his own context, emphasizing the virtues of curiosity, courage, the pathos of distancepathos of distance, the sense of humor, and solitude. These instincts-become-virtues are held together by conscience and integrity. For Nietzsche, drivesdrive are act-directed motivational and evaluative dispositions. An agent’s drives move her to engage in and positively evaluate a range of characteristic actions regardless of the consequences that may eventuate from those actions. Drives thus differ from preferences and desires in being associated primarily with the processes of agency rather than with teleologically-specified states of affairs. In addition, Nietzsche thinks that instinctsinstinct are innate drives, though other drives can be acquired. Moreover, instincts and other drives are mutable on several dimensions, including their intensity, their objects, and the structural interrelations. And an agent’s instincts and other drives constitute her psychological typetype. This in turn makes it possible to say what a Nietzschean virtue is: namely, a well-calibrated instinct or other drive. What it takes for a drive to be well-calibrated involves both internal and external integration, or at least non-interference. In particular, a drive is a virtue to the extent that it is conducive to lifelife, does not systematically or reliably induce negative self-directed emotions that respond to fixed aspects of the self, and does not systematically or reliably induce reactions from the agent’s community that are liable to be internalized as negative self-directed emotions that respond to fixed aspects of the self. In Nietzsche’s framework, exemplars of different types elicit different discrete emotions in people with fine-tuned affective sensitivity. While some exemplars inspire admirationadmiration that leads to emulation, others incite envy and the motivation to agonistic one-upsmanship. Exemplars of bad or deplorable types provoke contempt and disgust, which serve as signposts of what to avoid. Nietzsche also pays special attention to the role of community in fostering virtues. For him, one’s community and the language used by that community play a constitutive role in the cultivation of virtuevirtue. This is because part of what it means for a person to be of a certain type is that she is susceptible to social determination of her character. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to explore Gadamer’s early reflections on Plato’s utopian thought and its potential topicality. In the following section, I will show how areté, understood as a hermeneutical and existential virtue, is dialectically related to ethics and politics in Gadamer’s phenomenological reception of Plato’s philosophy. I argue that, in Gadamer’s eyes, Socratic-Platonic self-understanding enables human beings to be aware of their political responsibilities, to recognize how they are existentially and mutually related to the other, and to (...) clarify dialectically their own existential possibilities in order to transcend their inherited world of values. In the third section, I aim to show how these are the grounds on which Gadamer’s initial thoughts on the utopian dimension of Platonic political philosophy developed, mainly through his further critical account of the works on the German “political Plato” published in Germany between 1927 and 1933, i.e., Kurt Singer’s Platon, der Gründer (1927), Julius Stenzel’s Platon. Der Erzieher (1928), and Kurt von Hildendrandt‘s Platon, Der Kampf des Geistes um die Macht (1933). Then, in the fourth section, I will express my own views on the relevance of reconsidering how the notions of areté, phrónesis, and andreía are already related in Plato’s dialogues, complementing the insights on Gadamer’s interpretation of areté in section two. My purpose is to go beyond Gadamer’s reading and provide us with a more solid ground to address his late reflections on political courage and its relations with his dialectical understanding of Platonic utopia as a myth. Therefore, I will explore the problem of civil disobedience, a topic that was actually not at the centre of Gadamer’s concerns, as a genuine mode of utopian political action which can enact a true deviation from the sophistic pólis and its understanding of power. Finally, in the conclusion, I will characterize Gadamer’s portrait of Platonic utopia as a dialectical myth which enables human beings to recognize when politics are being reduced to mere power abuse by the State and also suggest why Gadamer’s approach to utopias is still relevant today. (shrink)

Emmanuel Macron voit en lui 'La personne qui m'a le plus marqué, avec ma grand-mère'; malgré cette reconnaissance, Paul Ricoeur reste encore mal connu du public français qui s'en tient à des interprétations de seconde main ne permettant pas d'appréhender la finesse de sa pensée. Cette "biographie philosophique" sans concession vise à éclairer l'évolution de la philosophie de Ricoeur en la confrontant aux péripéties de sa vie dans le siècle. Elle nous éclaire sur les engagements, les erreurs, les avancées et (...) les fausses routes d'un Ricoeur passionné par le dialogue, le compromis et la politique dont les héritiers tentent encore d'appliquer au monde réel les concepts qu'il a développés."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)