Triumph Over Fear: Is the Experience of Fear Essential to Courage?

Against the stark backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest, and economic hardships, we are living in a time of unprecedented uncertainty and vulnerability—a time where we have no choice but to confront the physical, emotional, and psychological toll that the pandemic is exacting on us. The understanding of the construct of courage, a virtue that allows us to flourish and thrive under challenging times, thus seems more relevant and important than ever. However, the factors that determine whether an action is perceived as courageous are not well understood. In particular, conceptual accounts differ as to whether the perception that an actor has experienced fear is essential to the actor being perceived as courageous. The current dissertation examines this fundamental question. The main conclusion is that it is not the experience of fear that is essential for an actor to be viewed as having courage; rather, it is the belief that an actor has overcome the fear that is quintessential to the perception of courage.