Virtues of Acknowledged Dependence and Common Projects of Care
Aaron D. Cobb in A Virtue-Based Defense of Perinatal Hospice, 2019
One can extend this account by appealing to a distinction noted earlier between motivational and structural virtues. Recall that motivational virtues are dispositions rooted in a deep and abiding care or concern. Justice, for instance, is a disposition to care fundamentally about justice. The just person is disposed to act in pursuit of just institutions, just distribution of goods, and just social structures. He is pained by injustice and moved to seek remedy for the individual, communal, or political sources of this failure; he experiences joy when he sees that an individual has received what is proper to him or when an injustice has been rectified. Structural virtues, however, are not rooted in a specific motivating concern. Instead, they are virtues that enable one to pursue and remain committed to other moral concerns. Courage is a paradigmatic example of a structural virtue; it enables one to deal properly with threats of danger and fear such that one can remain oriented toward other moral goods. Courage acts to shore up the person’s defenses so that he can pursue those things he loves even when this exposes him to fear and tempts him to recoil from these pursuits.
Person-centred health care
Stephen Buetow in Person-centred Health Care, 2016
As conceptualized by Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Golden Mean, persons exercise virtues that signify a desirable and feasible middle path between excess and deficiency, whose discernment through careful judgement is relative to the particulars of the situation at hand and the person. For example, straddling cowardice and recklessness is courage which, by nature, is a virtue and operates as a virtue when exercised in good pursuits. Courage enables the person to overcome their fear without going too far or not far enough. This truth is universal. The same moderation and balance that allow the person to master their circumstances, for example, infuse the Hindu text, Bhagavad Gita and the Confucian Doctrine of the Mean. Similarly, the Taoist perspective is that the person of true virtue has virtue-relevant and accessible goals that, forming a stable part of their character, motivate them to behave in a manner that is unselfconsciously, unobtrusively and unaffectedly virtuous. This person lives in harmony with life for its own sake; that is, as its own intrinsic reward. Knowing the limits of their place in the world, they eschew hubris, for example in relation to scientific prowess. They act not for approval from others but from the natural energy of humble self-appreciation that nurtures their learnt sense of what is good and lends itself to harmony. This perspective puts the virtues within reach, as moderately demanding goals.
Reach higher, dig deeper
Amar Rughani, Joanna Bircher in The Leadership Hike, 2020
Courage isn’t just for those who are extraordinary; it’s an everyday activity conducted by everyday people. It’s widespread and often low-profile. For example, people show courage when they: Try to be their real selvesTake risksSeek out feedbackStep aside and let others shineInfluence those with powerKeep tryingShow their vulnerability
Concepts of courage and resilience in nursing: A proposed conceptual model
Published in Contemporary Nurse, 2019
Akhtar Ebrahimi Ghassemi, Nicole Zhang, Elisabeth Marigliano
To cultivate courage, an individual must look at challenges as opportunities and should not stop until he or she has found solutions to them. This article adopts Gruber’s (2011) definition of courage as “the cognitive, voluntary mental process used to enact change on a stable system for the intention of a positive outcome” (p. 274). This definition suggests courage is a cognitive process that can be learned (Richardson, 2002). Courage involves persevering through adversity and resistance to accomplish improvement, even though the individual experiences anxiety, uncertainty, and apprehension in doing so (Cleary & Horsfall, 2014; Gruber, 2012; Pianalto, 2012; Pury & Hensel, 2010; Sekerka, Bagozzi, & Charnigo, 2009). For courage to be central to nursing practice, thus benefitting nurses and patients alike, the nursing profession needs to build an undergraduate curriculum that is able to establish and maintain an ethical culture among registered nurses and educators.
Using Knowledge Wisely
Published in Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing, 2018
Sometimes, this can take courage. In one of the most famous episodes of whistle blowing in Australia, a nurse, Toni Hoffman, used her special scientific knowledge to recognize that a surgeon, Dr. Jayant Patel, was harming his patients at Bundaberg Hospital in Queensland (Thomas, 2007). He was eventually tried for murder and manslaughter. At first Hoffman was not listened to, but eventually, with much persistence and courage, and helped by the media, she was able to convince the government that an inquiry was needed, and so subsequent patients were protected (Thomas, 2011). Courage can be required to speak up, to point out where things might be going wrong, but as with scientists of all kinds, health professionals have a serious obligation to do so. Health professionals are privileged to hold this wonderful knowledge, and so are also privileged to use it for good.
Gender in the Suicidal Experience: A Qualitative Study among Adolescents
Published in Archives of Suicide Research, 2023
Thibault Vivier, Marie Rose Moro, Thierry Baubet, Nancy Pionnie-Dax, Salomé Grandclerc, Solène Spiers, Jonathan Lachal
The theme of courage appeared particularly interesting to us in the experiences of suicidal behavior reported by our participants. Courage can be defined as a hinge between principles, an action, and a place in time (Fleury, 2011). On the one hand, seeking care requires courage when an adolescent is in a situation of psychological distress. Suffering here is perceived as fragility, weakness in the face of one's responsibilities, even shame, which can cause pain to loved ones. From another perspective, some say they have the courage to take risks. This risk-taking also allows them to stand up to the situation, to go up against the feeling of fragility, to actively take responsibility for life and death. The boys in our study thus present suicidal behaviors as a way of better distinguishing themselves from others, and thus as a lever to build new affiliations.