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The question:

To face danger solely because doing so affords one a certain pleasure does not constitute real courage. Real courage is manifested only when a person, in acting to attain a goal, perseveres in the face of fear prompted by one or more dangers involved.

Which one of the following statements can be properly inferred from the statements above?

(A) A person who must face danger in order to avoid future pain cannot properly be called courageous for doing so.
(B) A person who experiences fear of some aspects of a dangerous situation cannot be said to act courageously in that situation.
(C) A person who happens to derive pleasure from some dangerous activities is not a courageous person
(D) A person who faces danger in order to benefit others is acting courageously only if the person is afraid of the danger
(E) A person who has no fear of the situations that everyone else would fear cannot be said to be courageous in any situation.

Now' the answer is D. But given the fact that thisis a Must Be True question (according to PS bible), and given the fact that, as the stimulus says, PERSEVERING in the face of fear is neccesary in order to be acting courageously, i dont see how D is correct. That is, D makes no such mention of perseverance, instead it mentions only facing danger.

The question is asking about your understanding of the necessary condition.

Courage ---> Attain Goal and Fear

In other words, you must feel fear and have a goal in order for an action to be properly called courageous.

Answer choice (D) gives us this. Only if you feel fear can an action be called courageous. This is true; in fact if must be true. The question is just asking about the contrapositive, i.e., without fear, an action is not courageous.

I hope this makes sense. Let me know if I can be more clear with the explanation.

Campagnolo wrote:The question is asking about your understanding of the necessary condition.

Courage ---> Attain Goal and Fear

In other words, you must feel fear and have a goal in order for an action to be properly called courageous.

Answer choice (D) gives us this. Only if you feel fear can an action be called courageous. This is true; in fact if must be true. The question is just asking about the contrapositive, i.e., without fear, an action is not courageous.

I hope this makes sense. Let me know if I can be more clear with the explanation.

Thanks for the reply. But, Not quite sure i get it. I was under the impression that perseverance with respect to one's goals is necessary in order to act courageously. D mentions the "goal" aspect (that is, "in order to benefit others"), and it mentions the "fear of dangers involved" aspect, but the seemingly necessary "perseverance" aspect is left out?

what im saying is why should facing danger be sufficient for persevering in the face of fearbrought about by danger

If you have Courage, then you have a Goal and perseverance in the face of Fear.

C ---> G and F

The contrapositive is:

(G or F ---> C)

Answer choice (D) says you are acting courageously only if the person is afraid of danger (only if introduces the necessary condition). This must be true, because of the contrapositive. That is, if you don't feel fear (F), then you are not courageous (C).

Think of it this way: can you persevere in the face of fear if you do not feel afraid?

revahp00 wrote:what im saying is why should facing danger be sufficient for persevering in the face of fearbrought about by danger

Facing danger is necessary for courage. Not facing danger is sufficient to say you are not courageous (via the contrapositive).