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Article: The tyranny of petty coercion.
- Article from:
- Social Research
- Article date:
- March 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 New School for Social Research. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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COURAGE SEEMS TO ME TO BE DEPENDENT ON CULTURAL DEFINITION. BY this I do not mean only that it is a word that blesses different behaviors in different cultures, though that is clearly true. I mean also, and more importantly for the purposes of this article, that courage is rarely expressed except where there is sufficient consensus to support it. Theologians used to write about a prevenient grace, which enables the soul to accept grace itself. Perhaps there must also be a prevenient courage to nerve one to be brave. It is we human beings who give one another permission to show courage, or, more typically, withhold such permission. We human beings also internalize ...