Are heroes real, or are they simply stories we tell ourselves?

Either heroes are objectively real—brave people who perform extraordinary acts of courage and sacrifice—or heroism is merely in our heads, a social construction shaped by culture, media, and wishful thinking. This debate shows up everywhere: in classrooms, in popular culture, and even among scholars who study heroism for a living.

At the heart of many debates about heroism lies what psychologists would call a false dichotomy—the mistaken belief that heroism must be either objectively real or merely socially constructed. This either-or framing is deeply misleading. Heroism is both real and constructed, and its power comes precisely from the way these two dimensions intertwine.

On the objective side, heroism is undeniable. People do step forward in moments of danger. They protect others, speak out against injustice, take personal risks, and make sacrifices that genuinely matter. Firefighters run into burning buildings. Whistleblowers expose corruption. Ordinary people perform extraordinary acts that change lives. To deny the reality of these actions would be absurd—and insulting.

Yet heroism never arrives as a raw fact. We do not encounter heroic acts in a vacuum. We encounter them through perception, interpretation, and story. We decide which acts count........

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