Recklessness (also called unchariness) is disregard for or indifference to the dangers of a situation or for the consequences of one's actions, as in deciding to act without stopping to think beforehand. Aristotle considered such rashness as one end (excessive) of a continuum, with courage as the mean and cowardice as the deficit vice.Aristotle, Ethics (1976) p. 103; 'In feelings of fear and confidence, courage is the mean ... who exceeds in confidence is reckless ... who exceeds in fear and is deficient in confidence is cowardly.' Nicomachean Ethics, book ii, 1107a/b, trans. Martin Ostwald (1962/1999). Recklessness has been linked to antisocial personality disorder.D, Coon/J. O. Mitterer, Introduction to Psychology (2008) p. 488

Origins

"Reck" is a regard or reckoning, particularly of a situation. A reckless individual would engage in an activity without concern for its after-effects. It can in certain cases be seen as heroic—for example, the soldier fearlessly charging into battle, with no care for his own safety, has a revered status and military rank among some. However, recklessness is more commonly regarded as a vice—this same soldier may be a liability to his own side, or get himself killed for no benefit—and may be the product of a death wish.Eric Berne, A Laynan's Guide to Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis (1976) p. 81

Motivation

The driving-force behind recklessness may be a need to test fate—an attempt to bolster a sense of omnipotence or of special privileges.J. Halliday/P. Fuller eds., The Psychology of Gambling (1974) p. 207

Or it may be due to a loss of the feeling of anxiety,J. Cleese/R. Skynner, Families and how to survive them (1994) p. 35-6 to a denial of it,Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) p. 480 or to an attempt to overcompensate for it.Erik H. Erikson, Childhood and Society (1973) p. 249

Similarly dare-devils may overcompensate for an inhibited aggressiveness, while narcissists may enjoy a feeling that nothing can happen to them,Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) p. 518 and p. 510 similar to what Aristotle termed the maniac.Aristotle, Ethics (1976) p. 129

See also

References