Aristotle on Friendship Essay

Matt Westermeyer Epictetus and Aristotle in Practice Mankind has been searching for existential reasoning since our earliest beginnings. One of the biggest questions, the one that keeps me up at night, “How ought we to live?” will be explained from the viewpoints of Epictetus in his Enchiridion and Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics. In this paper, I will discuss both philosophies in principle and practice, while giving insight to how to they may function in a modern world situation. Although both…

In book eight of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle defines the three types of friendships that exist in the Greek word philia (a broader definition of friendship than one might think), which are based off usefulness, pleasure, or goodness, the three reasons for liking something: friendships of utility, friendships of pleasure and complete friendships. In the beginning, Aristotle says that friendship is a virtue or at least involves virtue. It is necessary to life, since no one would choose to live without…

Friendship A friend is defined as a person whom one knows, likes, and trusts, therefore this is a friendship. In every society in the world people have and follow this relationship and support it. In some societies this relationship is given more importance than others. In our society friends are given almost the same attention as ones family member. Family is the closest relationship a person has, and if that is disturbed a friend can be very helpful. During the development of a friendship in…

Friendship is one of the most important things in life and everyone should learn how to maintain at least one true friendship. Not only is it beneficial to your happiness, it is constructive medicine in both your mental and physical health. Strong social networks and friendships may lengthen longevity, develop a healthier brain, survive cancer and heart disease better, as well as getting less colds, according to an Australian study. Without friendship, the world would be a dismal place, as friends…

Aristotle wrote on many subjects in his lifetime but one of the virtues that he examines more extensively is friendship. Aristotle believes that there are three different kinds of friendship: utility, pleasure, and virtuous friendships. He also argues that a real friendship should be highly valued because it is a complete virtue and he believes it to be greater than honor and justice. Aristotle suggests that human’s love of utility and pleasure is the only reason why the first two types of friendships…

Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle Even now as I write this paper my heart is full of sorrowed and pity. Due to the unpleasantness of this situation, I still have not recovered from the experience. I must start this story by first saying, I am not a, fan of making best friends. However, I have this friend who is like a sister to me, we do everything together. Our moms know one another, thus they make…

In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle tells us that there are three types of friendships; the useful, the pleasurable, and the perfect. In this paper, I am going to try to show why the pleasurable friendship is the worst kind to have, and of course why the perfect friendship would be the best. "Now those who love each other for their utility do not love each other for themselves but in virtue of some good which they get form each other." (Nic. Ethics Bk.8:3) Among my extremes of the…

that Aristotle attaches importance to friendship within his ethical reflections. It suffices to recall that the Nicomachean Ethics, the most representative of the ethical works of Aristotle, contains two complete books, books VIII and IX, dedicated to friendship. This means that the theme of friendship is given a much wider space than other fundamental ethical issues. However, this breadth in his explanations is not something casual, but rather responds to Aristotle’s belief that friendship is something…

Schreiner Paper 2 The Means Behind Friendship “Friendship is a virtue or at least involves virtue. It is necessary to life, since no one would choose to live without friends even if he had all other material goods. Friends are a refuge in times of poverty and misfortune; they help to guard the young from error; they help the old in their weakness, and help those in the prime of life to perform noble actions.” –Aristotle According to dictionary.com, the word friendship is defined as a person known well…

Aristotle on Friendship We are social creatures. We surround ourselves with other human beings, our friends. It is in our nature. We are constantly trying to broaden the circumference of our circle of friends. Aristotle understood the importance of friendship, books VIII and IX of the Nicomachean Ethics deal solely with this topic. A modern day definition of a friend can be defined as “one joined to another in intimacy and mutual benevolence independently of sexual or family love”. (Oxford…