Cowardice is a concept that has a negative social assessment, implying a person’s lack of mental strength to carry out necessary actions or decisions, to maintain a strong position in situations of experiencing emotional fear and extreme incidents. Cowardice, as a personality quality, is not a concept synonymous with fear, since fear and horror serve as mechanisms of survival, orientation in the world around us, they are natural and natural, while a person maintains the direction of movement. Fear corrects actions, forces you to be more attentive, take into account more different features, and perhaps change your strategy for achieving it. Cowardice deprives the ability to perceive a situation objectively and stops all human activity. Usually, the forward movement of people with a predominance of cowardice is of a forced nature, because in many situations they stop not only their own forward movement, but also the movement of the entire team.
Everyone exhibits cowardice, but those in whom this trait becomes the leading one are called cowards. It is useless to fight such reactions with willpower; it is only possible to develop your own courage, as a quality opposite to cowardice.
What is the antonym for the word cowardice?
The noun “cowardice” has the following antonyms: courage heroism courage
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Cowardice Coward Cowardly
Cowardice is a person’s reaction to fear, expressed in the inability or unwillingness to perform any proper actions (actions); mental weakness.
Alexander the Great noticed among his soldiers a man named Alexander, who constantly fled during battles. And he said to him: “I ask you, either overcome cowardice, or change your name, so that the similarity of our names does not mislead anyone.”
The inability or unwillingness to cope with fear or any phobia becomes the driving force of cowardice. Bravery is trained cowardice. When a person, in a moment of danger, “thinks” only with his feet, ignoring the voice of conscience and reason, it means that we are faced with cowardice. She always makes a choice in favor of a comfortable, safe present in comparison with an unpredictable and uncertain future.
Instead of solving the problem, the coward hides from it. At the instigation of Pliny the Elder, a legend came to us from Ancient Rome about ostriches supposedly hiding their heads in the sand out of fear: “Ostriches imagine that when they stick their heads and necks into the ground, their whole body seems hidden.” It is curious that this misconception still persists in the minds of citizens. The ostrich is a bird that actively defends itself when in danger. The ostrich has long, very strong two-toed legs, perfectly adapted for running and protection from enemies. The ostrich bends down to the ground to eat and swallow sand and small pebbles. Many birds do this - after all, they do not have teeth, they are replaced by a muscular stomach with hard walls, so the ostrich has to swallow stones to make it easier to digest its lunch.
Various entertainment events help to hide from the fear of solving life's problems and cowardice. Behind the screen of feasts, sexual promiscuity, or simply hobbies of cinema and sports, cowardice avoids resolving unpleasant situations, accumulating them more and more. Cowardice reaches out to laughing friends, cheerful, vigorous people, trying to find in them at least psychological support. She involuntarily realized the truth - funny things are not dangerous, and, defending herself from fear, she acquired a tendency to laugh and giggle.
Cowardice should not be identified with caution, moderation, gradualism or prudence. A coward, faced with uncertainty, does not want to take risks; he is a slave to fear. At the same time, he is fully aware of the groundlessness of his fears. But when a person, seeing an aggressive drunk company, avoids communication and eye contact with her, of course, this is a reasonable precaution. If he is doing spearfishing for the first time, then it is wise to familiarize himself with the rules of behavior under water.
When cowardice becomes a manifest quality of a person, it is natural that it rejects its opposites - courage, boldness, courage and selflessness. At the same time, it easily transforms into timidity, fearfulness, timidity and apprehension.
An inexplicable phenomenon, uncertainty and associated risks always cause a certain fear in any person. Only the insane are not afraid. Everyone experiences fear. Cowards die many times. However, a courageous person overcomes fear by force of will, forcing himself to fulfill his duties and duty. In cowardice, the muscles of the mind are atrophied, willpower is suppressed by fear, and conscience is silent. When the fatal moments come, she does what is due only under external coercion, “under pressure.” F. M. Dostoevsky wrote: “A coward is one who is afraid and runs; and whoever is afraid and does not run is not a coward.”
Everything in the world is relative. Who is better, an undisciplined brave man or a disciplined coward? V. Tarasov writes in “Principles of Life”: “The brave man does not advance alone, the coward does not retreat alone. One warrior, unable to withstand the stress of the upcoming battle, ran up to the enemy positions, cut off two heads, and returned with them. But the commander ordered to add the hero’s head to these two. Because there was no order to attack. These three heads in a row are a symbol of the prohibition of attacking without an order. The brave do not advance alone. Discipline cannot be maintained if the brave advance without orders. Here are the soldiers sitting in the trench. They are looking forward to the start of the battle. The brave man got up and, without waiting for an order, went on the offensive. Behind him is another, a third, and the whole company. Only a coward remained in the trench. He alone is disciplined and awaits orders. But there is no order, since everyone has already left. How to evaluate the behavior of a coward? Like discipline, and reward! Or as cowardice, and punished? What if a year has passed and he still sits and waits for orders? If every thing is in its place, every person is where he should be, and does what he should do - this is order. If order is violated, then we can say who is the violator and what was violated - this is disorder. If order is disrupted, but it is impossible to say who exactly is to blame and what exactly he violated, this is disorganization. Disorganization is worse than disorder. With it, fear and fearlessness change places. It's scary to keep order. And it’s not scary to break it. That's what disorganization is. When a coward retreats alone, he creates disorder. When a brave man advances alone, he creates disorganization. The path from disorganization to order lies through disorder. First, turn disorganization into disorder. Then punish the person responsible for this new disorder. To bring back the picture of the world when it’s scary to break order, and not scary not to break it.”
That is why, in peacetime conditions, the employer will prefer to hire an executive, disciplined, cowardly official into a large economic structure. An overly independent, proactive, courageous person in emergency circumstances may behave in an unusual manner and risk the system. A coward will play it safe ten thousand times and do what is beneficial to the system.
“To a coward it seems that even the mountains are shaking,” says a Mongolian proverb. Professing the principle “No matter what happens,” cowardice is clogged in the shell of its own egoism, protecting itself from the threats and challenges of the outside world. She is isolated in her loneliness, like Robinson Crusoe on a desert island. The frightened Ego, fearing for its safety, is ready to resort to betrayal and meanness. At all times, cowardice has been and will be the forge of traitors. Cowardice, treason and betrayal are the constant trinity of depravity. When paired with cowardice, many negative personality traits take on an exaggerated appearance: a stupid person becomes an irresponsible, stupid “brake” with paralysis of the mind, a deceitful person turns into a deceiver and slanderer. The catchphrase of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, written in his diary on March 2, 1917, on the day of his abdication, became famous: “There is treason, cowardice and deceit all around.”
Cowardice gives rise to cruelty. Through cruelty towards weaker or closer people, she skillfully disguises herself and hides her true essence. The coward throws out all his anger and resentment on the victim. Savage murders, chilling the heart with their cruelty, are often committed under the influence of fear. Fear develops into horror, and the latter into unbridled cruelty. Cowardice deprives a person of reason, and he becomes the embodiment of heartlessness, hard-heartedness and indifference. Helvetius accurately noted: “Cruelty is always the result of fear, weakness and cowardice.”
A person can live his life and never know, because of his cowardice, what he was capable of. The desire for security, fear of risks, desire to have a “roof”, refusal to make vital decisions - all this together makes a potentially brave person a pathetic cowardly lion. “Why are you a coward? - Ellie asked, looking in surprise at the huge Leo. - I was born this way. Of course, everyone considers me brave: after all, the lion is the king of beasts! When I roar - and I roar very loudly, you heard - animals and people run out of my way. But if an elephant or a tiger attacked me, I would be scared, honestly! It’s good that no one knows what a coward I am,” said Lev, wiping away his tears with the fluffy tip of his tail. “I’m very ashamed, but I can’t change myself...”
Petr Kovalev 2013 Other articles by the author: https://www.podskazki.info/karta-statej/
Courage as an object of manipulation
Sometimes, when it is known that a person is terribly brave, cunning people can play on this weakness. On the one hand, courage is a virtue, and on the other hand, when it degenerates into bravado, it is a disadvantage.
Let us recall the almost textbook example of Marty McFly, who from part to part of the famous film epic “Back to the Future” was caught in the same thing - an inferiority complex. Marty was afraid that others would think that he was a coward (the meaning of the word needs no explanation). The scriptwriters forced the character to replay the same situation over and over again, like skilled therapists, so that the hero would finally draw the right conclusion: the opinions of others are not the most important thing in life.
The Problem of Human Cowardice
The problem of such a manifestation as cowardice has a long history of philosophical and military disputes; this issue was raised by Socrates. Unfortunately, there is no single clear understanding of what constitutes cowardice, despite a fairly clear definition of the word. Now in each individual social group there is its own understanding of which of them is a coward and this is not due to the substitution of concepts, just for some it is the one who does not quickly make a decision, for others it is a mother who did not stand up for her son, and for others a traitor to the homeland. Various categories of values and the general cultural level of society determine cowards.
In wartime, the attitude towards cowards was quite harsh - they could be executed or imprisoned for life. The meaning of this was to protect the bulk of the population, because in war conditions the instability of the internal forces of one person can cost millions of lives and the freedom of an entire nation. Less severe punishments, but definitely present, exist in every society and at any time - this is a necessity that ensures the protection of all individuals. This is an artificial mechanism developed over millennia, aimed at the survival of the species. Punishment for cowardice exists on all continents, regardless of whether the nation is highly technological in its development or is a tribe deprived of contact with civilization.
Cowardice is an exclusively human problem, since this is absent in the manifestation of the animal world. The mechanism regulating the existence of the species forces animals, when danger approaches, to first notify their relatives, despite attracting attention to themselves and risking their lives.
The more opportunities a person receives for a separate existence, the higher the likelihood of developing cowardice in society. No one cares about the general well-being, since it does not reflect on the individual, and the point is solely in maintaining one’s position. This trend makes the concept of cowardice more blurred, but does not cancel the public’s contemptuous attitude towards manifestations of mental weakness. Initially, deserters and military traitors were called cowards, those who did not want to go hunting and risk their lives to feed the tribe, that is, cowards are those who directly threaten the lives of many people at once. This memory of the inadmissibility of cowardly behavior is fixed at the genetic level, only the manifestations of this quality become completely different in modern society.
In peacetime, increasing emphasis is placed on the moral side of the process of cowardice, that is, this is no longer a lack of active action, but an avoidance of conversation, an inability to accept responsibility, a radical change in life. Even a simple meeting can reveal a coward, for example, by not coming to it after learning that important things will be discussed. Personal immaturity becomes the reason for an increasing manifestation of moral cowardice in a person - people abandon children, abandon families out of fear of responsibility, make critical mistakes or skip promising jobs, fearing a further increase in responsibility.
The problem of human cowardice remains relevant and is changing along with social restructuring of the main social models of interaction and the immediate real civil situation. We cannot take as a starting point those examples that spoke of cowardice several centuries ago, because perhaps now there are simply no conditions for manifestation, but others have appeared and there is a need to create new criteria.
Synonyms
Let’s interrupt our reflections on the phenomenon of excessive fear in the face of danger with synonyms for the noun “coward.” The list is as follows:
- bunny;
- hare soul;
- anika-warrior;
- cowardly;
- wet chicken.
Unfortunately, this time there is no way to please the reader with an abundance of synonyms on the topic. It's also a matter of censorship. We cannot place most of the definitions that suggest themselves here for moral reasons, because they are indecent. Anika warrior is a figurative expression for a person who boasts of courage far from real danger. The image has its roots in Russian folklore. To put it very briefly, the essence of the story is this: one warrior boasted of his valor and offended the defenseless. Then on some road he met Death, and he also rushes at it, knowing no fear. The snub-nosed warrior, of course, wins, and he begs for mercy, but Death takes him to his kingdom. Moral: Being a coward is not a bad thing, at least sometimes.
Meaning
Naturally, almost everyone can give their own definition. But we need objectivity, so let’s turn to the explanatory dictionary. A coward is “a person who is easily swayed by fear.” A wonderful definition, succinct and strictly to the point. Indeed, it is fear that makes people cowards. But the catch is that it’s completely normal to be afraid. Through horror of something, the instinct of self-preservation reveals itself. This means that it is not a matter of fear and horror that arises. The fact is that a person cannot control his emotions in the face of danger. He lacks will, endurance, perhaps patience.
What it is
The definition of cowardice in any sources implies an attitude towards this quality as a weakness, and a condemned, criminal weakness. This can be explained by the fact that under the influence of emotions a person is capable of any action; sometimes a high degree of cowardice can lead to serious crimes. It turns out that fear can indeed have a strong stimulating effect, but when there is a trait of cowardice in a person, it takes on destructive forms.
Next to the destructive forms of cowardice, there is often betrayal, since, without internal resilience to withstand external pressure, a person’s opinion will change to suit the circumstances with only one goal - to avoid personal negative consequences. Cowardice excludes personal responsibility and the ability to make judicious decisions about any actions; all human activity is subordinated to fear. It is especially worth noting that fear can arise from a real threat or imaginary problems, but is experienced by a person in the same way.
It is worth carefully distinguishing between cowardice and caution, attentiveness, accuracy - temporary retreat, waiting for an opportune moment have nothing to do with stopped activity, implying rather tactics. Cowardice does not want to look closely and look for solutions, it is not able to wait or show attentiveness - this is a strong instinctive feeling that makes a person run when the source of fear approaches.
There is a wary and contemptuous attitude towards cowards in society, since one cannot expect reliability from a person. They are the first to escape, leaving the weak and helpless in trouble, they resort to lies and sabotage for the purpose of their own safety and benefit, it happens that because of the fear of revealing the secret, murders were committed. A coward is an unreliable person for joint activities or worthwhile relationships. After all, the main ability is missing - processing internal fear.
In a normal development situation and with a harmonious personality, a person is able to process his own experiences, highlight the main values on the basis of moral standards, ethical principles, and not instinctive immediate reactions. A coward has no limiting factors of internal principles, allowing instincts to guide behavior. Many believe that cowardice is the most terrible vice, lowering a person to the level of an animal, and comparisons from the animal kingdom are also not entirely flattering, since among lions, wolves, and elephants there is a tendency to protect their relatives, rather than cowardly flight.
Cowardice helps a person avoid solving important social and life problems. Procrastination, constant entertainment events, aimless pastime are tools of activity, the use of which organizes a cowardly avoidance of confrontation with unpleasant but demanding moments.
The desire to live and cowardice
Is it possible to blame a person for wanting to live? Yes, Freud, during a difficult time in his life, invented or came up with the theory that two forces operate in the body - eros and thanatos. And each of them is equal in its rights, moreover, thanatos is even more energetic, for every life ends in death. And the ultimate conclusion of the founder of psychoanalysis is this: the living strives for death. But real practice does not confirm the message, but, on the contrary, refutes it: the biological always wants to live.
Remember the wonderful episode of the film “Braveheart” (1995), when W. Wallace persuades him to fight the British, and they answer him that if they run away now, they will live? The military leader recognizes the truth of these words, but contrasts the image of a quiet, boring old age with the image of heroic death in the battle for freedom. And those who were cowards some time ago rush into the fray with enthusiasm. Some will say that this is Hollywood. Everything goes into external effect. But somehow people were inspired? And there are no battles without casualties. This means that a person is not so much afraid of dying as of the fact that his death will be meaningless. If a man fears the same thing, can he be considered a coward? This is an open question.
