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Hero

Requirements

• (usually) being a friend

Definitions

Hero

• a person who sacrifices (or gives up) a vice or a lower type of virtue for the attainment of a higher type of virtue.
• it does not apply to gaining of additional quantity of the same type of virtue, but of another type
• heroes cannot be imagined: heroism depends upon a real sacrifice

Provable Hero

• a hero who can provide evidence or verification of the quality and quantity of their heroism

Types

1. Military Heroes: Military volunteers who display valor and bravery in armed conflicts, risking their lives to protect their country and fellow soldiers.

2. Civil Rights Heroes: Volunteer activists who fight for social justice, equality, and human rights, facing opposition and danger to bring about change in society.

3. Humanitarian Heroes: People who dedicate their volunteering to helping others, such as aid workers, volunteers, and philanthropists, working in challenging and life-threatening conditions.

4. Medical Heroes: Healthcare volunteers, such as doctors, nurses, and researchers, who save lives and advance medical knowledge, working under extreme pressure or in crises.

5. Emergency Responder Heroes: Volunteer firefighters, police officers, paramedics, and other emergency responders who risk their lives to protect and rescue people in dangerous situations.

6. Provable Volunteers: Those who can prove their effort and leave themselves open to public criticism and attacks.

7. Environmental Heroes: Individuals who advocate for and take action to protect the environment, combat climate change, and preserve natural resources and wildlife.

8. Political Leaders: Statespersons and leaders who make significant contributions to peace, democracy, and the welfare of their people, in the face of adversity or opposition.

9. Cultural and Artistic Heroes: Artists, writers, musicians, and cultural figures who inspire others, challenge norms, and contribute to societal change through their unpaid work and influence.

10. Innovators and Pioneers: Scientists, inventors, and entrepreneurs who volunteer groundbreaking discoveries, develop new technologies, and drive progress in various fields.

Quality of Concept

A hero is a defender of an idea. The idea may be more virtuous or more generally moral than other ideas. Some heroes perform their heroic deeds for mutually exclusive ideas. For example, they may be volunteers who fight for two countries who compete over ownership of a piece of land. For establishing the hierarchy of concepts, we use the hierarchy of virtues.

Quantity of Sacrifice

1. Repeated Martyrs/Bodhisattvas: those who, after being martyred once, return again and again to help others with their message
2. Martyrs: those who sacrificed their lives in heroic action
3. Heroes: those who have sacrificed some of their own non-renewable resources (great sums of money, one or more organs or functional parts of the body, important positions of dignity) to help others
4. Provable Volunteers: those who are leaving themselves and their efforts to be denigrated by the public while able to prove their deeds
5. Volunteers: those who are helpful (donate their time and effort) but unpaid for their effort
6. The Charitable: those who donate their hard-earned financial or renewable resources

The Anti-Heroes

• The Imaginary Super-Hero: those heroes that do not exist in reality. They intoxicate the minds with the wrong definition of heroism
• Mercenaries: those who are paid to act like a hero does and they perform the job: military, medical, civil servants, political representants
• The Money Launderers: those who donate to charities but have not earned the resources justly. Moral charities must research the money provenance and refuse immoral sources.
• Anti-Heroes: those who are paid to help others but do not perform their job or prevent heroes from performing their acts
• Denigators of Heroes
• Impersonators of Heroes: those who pretend to be the authors of a heroic act without the act existing
• Thieves of Heroic Acts: those who pretend to be the authors of an extant heroic act while robbing the true heroes of their due recognition