Philosophy

In around 260 BC , King Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire invaded the Republic of Kalinga, now in modern day Orissa, engaging in a bloody battle that within a short period of time caused such massive destruction that it appalled the chronicles of time. It was the first and the only battle that Ashoka is said to have fought, following which he encountered a profound change of heart and gave up violence. The conquest did make Ashoka an absolute monarch over a great part of the Indian sub-continent ; the change of heart, however, stripped him of any desire for further military conquests. The massive loss of life and suffering caused by this war weighed heavily on the mind of the King and plunged him into deep remorse. On the 13th of his 14 Major Rock Edicts , he inscribes: On conquering Kalinga the Beloved of the Gods felt remorse, for, when an independent country is conquered, the slaughter, death and deportation of the people is extremely grievous to the Beloved of the Gods and weighs heav...

COURAGE ( andreia ) is one of the virtues extolled by Plato in his writings; the others are reverence or piety ( eusebeia ,  to hosion ), wisdom ( sophia ), temperance or sound-mindedness ( sophrosune ), and justice ( dikaiosune ). In both Laches and Protagoras , Plato investigates the meaning of courage. While in Protagoras , he concludes that courage is the knowledge of what is good and evil in the future, in Laches he expresses doubt over this conclusion. Certainly, courage must not be separated from wisdom. It would be foolish for someone who didn’t know how to swim to jump into a current trying to show courage there. One also doesn’t put his hand in fire claiming that he or she doesn’t fear anything. Courage must be combined with wisdom, specifically the knowledge of what must inspire fear and what must not – in other words, the knowledge of good and evil of the future. But, knowledge of good and evil cannot be divided into past, present, and future. The definition of good is ...