Dr. Seuss and Philosophy - Jacob M. Held [7]
Socrates also wonders, quite rightly, about all the ways courage can be shown in situations other than battle. What about the bravery people show in the face of dangers at sea, or illness, or poverty? Horton, after all, shows courage not only when he stares down the hunters’ guns but also when he confronts bad weather, the skepticism and mockery of the other animals, and the indignity of being caged up and shipped around the country in the circus. Also, Socrates asks, what about people who courageously stand up against injustice and evil? In short, the problem with Laches’ first definition is that it is too narrow—it applies well to one set of circumstances but fails to account for many other instances of courage.
Laches sees the force of Socrates’ arguments, and so he next tries a new, broader definition. Courage, he now says, is “a sort of endurance of the soul.”10 A courageous person is one who has the strength of mind to endure fear and threats, in any circumstance.
Once again, Socrates finds problems with Laches’ answer. This time, his definition is too broad, because there are many cases where “endurance of the soul” is not genuine courage. For example, suppose that, on a dare, a person “endures” danger and lies down on the yellow line in the middle of a busy street. Or suppose a racist “endures” criticism and holds stubbornly to his hateful beliefs. Both of these people display “endurance of the soul,” but neither shows genuine courage. If courage is a virtuous and good quality to have, Socrates argues, an action should count as courageous only if it is noble and good.11 Endurance motivated by foolishness and stupidity isn’t courage but recklessness or stubbornness.
King Derwin in Bartholomew and the Oobleck offers a good illustration of the danger posed by the foolish, stubborn endurance of the soul. King Derwin rules the Kingdom of Didd, but despite his power and the happiness of his kingdom, he’s bored with the four things that naturally come from the sky—rain, sunshine, fog, and snow. He wants something different and exciting. So he summons his royal magicians and orders them to cast a spell to make something new fall from the sky, “oobleck.” The king’s page, Bartholomew Cubbins, presciently warns him, “Your Majesty, I . . . think that you will be very sorry. . . . They’ll do something crazy!” (Oobleck). But the king won’t listen, stubbornly persisting in his desire to be “the mightiest man who ever lived” and have “something fall from the skies that no other kingdom has ever had before” (Oobleck). The results are predictably disastrous—the kingdom is inundated by the sticky, green oobleck, which covers everything and makes life impossible. But even at the lowest point of the disaster, King Derwin continues to resist Bartholomew’s suggestions. He finally shows genuine courage only when, at the end of the story, he admits his mistake and says he is sorry.
These examples show that a courageous person needs not only to be able to endure fear, danger, and opposition but also to endure them wisely, at the right time, for the right reasons. True courage is about facing fear and danger and enduring risk for the sake of an important and worthy goal. A soldier who stands his ground in order to protect his comrades is courageous. Horton shows courage when he refuses to abandon the egg; similarly, in Horton Hears a Who!, the elephant again displays courage when he stands up for and protects the Whos, a civilization of tiny people living on a dust speck whom none of the other animals can hear. So what kind of wisdom does a courageous person need? The second general, Nicias, proposes that courage is “knowledge of the fearful and hopeful in war and in every other situation.”12 In other words, a courageous person has the knowledge to be able to determine correctly which risks are worth facing and which are not. A courageous soldier has enough knowledge