Maimonides on Courage

Abstract

This paper will specifically disclose how Maimonides crafts the specific virtue of courage and examine how he attempts to revive it as a central Jewish virtue. Maimonides describes three forms of courage: courage in its moral form, as a challenge to unjust laws and leadership within society; and in its intellectual form, as a reevaluation of one's conventional opinions to strive to know the truth. In each case, too much fear or too much rashness can be detrimental to its success. As a result, I will also argue that his teaching on courage throughout his writings is less dichotomous than is often conceived.