Summary

In this chapter, Tillich introduces his primary themes—being and courage—and provides a critical and creative overview of the history of the concept of courage in the Western philosophical tradition from Plato to Nietzsche. He begins by claiming that courage is an ethical idea, it dictates or inspire individual moral action. However, because it is rooted in the entirety of the human experience, courage must first be considered from an ontological point of view (from a position of what it means to “be” or exist generally). Ontology precedes ethics. Tillich believes that this approach is first found in Plato’s dialogues, specifically “Laches” which demonstrates that a definition of courage cannot be found through an investigation of similar or adjacent virtues. It is, rather, taken to be a grounding or structure type of virtue that orients and orders others. Tillich...