work The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle addresses the question: what is the good life? Aristotle acknowledges that the generally accepted notion of the human good is happiness or, alternatively put, eudaimonia. The difficulty surrounding the age old question, and the topic that Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics primarily addresses, is not what we call the human good, but rather how happiness is defined and what contributes to a good, eudaimonic, flourishing life. Aristotle writes that happiness is an
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
Aristotle identifies the existence of three different kinds of friendships that are founded on the basis of either utility, pleasure or goodness of the friend. He views pleasure and utility to not be as binding compared to what he regards as complete friendship based on character, because in the latter the factor sustaining the social bond is more fragile relative to enduring virtues of a person. Aristotle further discusses that although a good person seems to have no apparent need for friends, they
Friendship is an important asset in the world we live in, the young needs friendship to retain them from error, older people need it to care for them and those in their prime time need it, to do fine actions. No one would choose to live without friends because friendship is very important and it holds cities together. The philosopher, Aristotle quoted friendship has “A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” Aristotle takes the concept of friendship to a major level. His concept of friendship is assertive
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
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
would choose a friendless existence on condition of having all the other things in the world (Aristotle).” Humans are social beings, social beyond any other creature in the world. Human interaction is a must for survival. It is in our nature. Aristotle understood this, he even had his own analysis of friendship. In the Nicomachean Ethics written by Aristotle, books VIII and IX are based off of friendship. Today, the definition of a friend is, “A person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection
The nature of friendship is different in the eyes of Aristotle. Walking into class on the first day of school I did not think about the concept of love profoundly. My previous definition of love was when one person loved and cared for another. As the classes went by, I engagingly read the assigned books and starting thinking about the idea of love as more complex. Aristotle separates the meaning of one emotion to several divergent categories. I understood that loving your favorite bag of chips is
According to Aristotle, one can experience three different types of friendship. The first type is a friend who is used for utilitarian purposes. Aristotle, however, quickly dismisses this type. As an example, Aristotle explains that one could never be friends with wine; while wine is satisfying to the person drinking the wine, no person ever wishes wine good fortune (Aristotle, 32). In order for a relationship between two people to be considered a friendship, one must want good things for the person
virtuous character. While in Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle 's depiction of friendship is a lively one, they show affection and their own virtuous character translates to our own. In contrast, Seneca 's On The Shortness Of Life suggests that we should seek friends of virtue with the dead because they possess the ability to always be with us and guide us with their own knowledge of life. While Aristotle and Seneca would rather choose one form of friendship over the other, we can denounce the notion that