On the Nature of Things | Forum

Why are Most People Cowards?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOJLGpfnX34

zOJLGpfnX34

Im curious when the alleged golden age of non cowards was.

noddy wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:11 am Im curious when the alleged golden age of non cowards was.

Before "snowflakes" were a generation

Doc wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 8:02 am

noddy wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:11 am Im curious when the alleged golden age of non cowards was.

Before "snowflakes" were a generation

I doubt that human nature has changed much since the start of recorded history.

One aspect of cowardice is that people generally prefer death over suffering.

Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 8:36 pm One aspect of cowardice is that people generally prefer death over suffering.

Some do. Others "Hope" things will get better.

Typhoon wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 8:23 pm

Doc wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 8:02 am

noddy wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:11 am Im curious when the alleged golden age of non cowards was.

Before "snowflakes" were a generation

I doubt that human nature has changed much since the start of recorded history.

What is new is "participation certificates" in Juvenal sports IE no winners and losers. Plus video games where 30 years olds sit in their mother's basement and play them.

BJ1aOACfYQE

Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 8:36 pm One aspect of cowardice is that people generally prefer death over suffering.

not sure I understand this.

noddy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 8:04 am

Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 8:36 pm One aspect of cowardice is that people generally prefer death over suffering.

not sure I understand this.

Bravery and suicide are similar. Cowards think they can escape suffering/anxiety.

Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:14 am

noddy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 8:04 am

Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 8:36 pm One aspect of cowardice is that people generally prefer death over suffering.

not sure I understand this.

Bravery and suicide are similar. Cowards think they can escape suffering/anxiety.

that I understand.

Im at my bravest when Im at my most jaded and I dont care what the outcome is, give me something to lose, something to worry about and perceptions are vastly different.

noddy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:39 am

Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:14 am

noddy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 8:04 am

Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 8:36 pm One aspect of cowardice is that people generally prefer death over suffering.

not sure I understand this.

Bravery and suicide are similar. Cowards think they can escape suffering/anxiety.

that I understand.

Im at my bravest when Im at my most jaded and I dont care what the outcome is, give me something to lose, something to worry about and perceptions are vastly different.

Not sure I understand it myself. Everyone is both hero and coward depending on sympathetic nervous system response.

It's its association with cruelty. Exaggerated examples found countless in military history really highlight how some of the most courageous people can be both incredibly brave and monstrously cruel from moment to moment.

most people are cowards because they wont take my politics as seriously as I want them to.

Coward - be aware of your Jungian Monster and take it seriously......

Bravery - can be consumed by your monster to the point you merge with it.........

“Cowardice” is not a constituent of anyone’s character, but instead is only a pejorative applied to those whom we believe do not have the “will” to act or respond in a manner that we, from our own frames and biases, consider “courageous.”

I prefer the Aristotelian term “Akrasia” or “weakness of the will” to our customary pejorative. In Plato's Protagoras, Socrates denies that there is any such thing as knowing what is wrong but doing it anyway since alleged cases of this are in fact instances in which the agent mistakenly supposes that she is doing what is best. In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics VII, he defends the Protagoras' position that the akratic (i.e., “cowardly”) agent acts in ignorance. So, essentially, people act in a particular situation based on their understanding at the time.

As David Hume pointed out; reason is “slave to the passions” so our understandings are distorted by our sentiments. While reason can help guide action, actions can only be initiated by our passions or inclinations. So how does one train the mind in body to develop a will that is effective and focused in dangerous or passion provoking situations?

Consider performing surgery. The prospect of taking a scalpel and slicing into a living human body would provoke apprehension and likely a degree of revulsion in most normal people. Is that because of cowardice? No, it is just a lack of knowledge and training.

While gaining knowledge to properly order the mind to the task is essential, substantial training and practice are also necessary to be able to perform in spite of our natural fears and revulsions, our body's accustomed sympathetic arousal responses. The Greeks had it right that overcoming ignorance with knowledge is necessary to correct apparent "akrasia" when faced with dangerous situations, but it is hardly sufficient. I suspect Socrates understood this since he served in the Athenian army with distinction during the Peloponnesian war.