C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival” (brainyquote.com). While philosophy and friendship may both be unnecessary, they are both valuable to the human experience. In the course of philosophical thinking, many philosophers, including Augustine, grapple with the concept and fulfillment of true friendship. Augustine writes of the meaning of true friendship in The Confessions, while also writing of his friendships throughout his life, using his own guidelines of what true friendship entails a revolution of his friendships can be seen alongside his transformation toward God that The Confessions is well known to …show more content…
He is thinking of life in terms of pleasure and vanity. Augustine wants knowledge and new ideas, which is what draws him to astrology, for it is something new and exciting, and as a young man, he himself is new to and excited to be in a world open to him. When the reader meets the childhood friend, Augustine talks of the friendship as “sweeter to me than any sweetness I had known in all my life” (The Confessions, Book IV, paragraph 7). Augustine places all goodness in his friend and relies on him fully for his happiness. In describing their friendship, Augustine does say that they have common interests and a “similarity of outlook [which] lent warmth to our relationship” (The Confessions, Book IV, paragraph 7). The two young men had grown up in the same place, at the same time, with each other, but grew close only at this time in their lives. In saying that they had a ‘similarity of outlook,’ Augustine means they have the same perspective on life; they are both young and feel they have the world at their fingertips.
Similarly, they have each other to look to for models on how to life, and do so in a way that begets improper friendship. Their relationship can be compared to many of those of young people who find friends and get lost in the group, forging together their opinions and goals for the ‘gang,’ if you will. Augustine writes, “For I had lured him from the true faith, which he had held in
In Augustine’s Confessions, he confesses many things of which we are all guilty; the greatest of which is his sadness of not having a relationship with God earlier in his life. He expressed to us that to neglect a relationship with God is far worse than the pity he felt for Dido. In reviewing his life, he had come to examine life and how there are temptations in this world that can keep us distracted. He tells to us how he became aware of this fact; everything is negligible except love for God, and his own guilt at not having found this truth sooner.
From humanity comes friendship, but friendship may not be as one-dimensional and simplistic as the common person believes it to be- it may not stop at the surface level. In David Whyte’s book, Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words, he writes on friendship, exposing the true facets of an authentic friendship that oftentimes are overlooked by many people. In Whyte’s opinion, friendship is an eternal experience, or at least an experience in which people take part over an extended period of time. The need for continuous support and forgiveness from and for both parties in a friendship presupposes this prolonged temporality. Naturally, as friendships take constant conscious effort, they require interest
Aristotle’s Book 9 of Nicomachean Ethics discusses the importance of friendship in an individual's life. Throughout the book, he hints at this idea of friendship. In Book 8.1, he writes, “In poverty as well as in other misfortunes, people suppose that friends are their only refuge. And friendship is a help to the young, in saving them from error, just as it is also to the old, with a view to the care they require and their diminished capacity for action stemming from their weakness; it is a help also to those in their prime in performing noble actions, for 'two going together' are better able to think and to act.” (N. Ethics 8.1). In other words, Aristotle emphasizes this idea that life is easier when there is a friend to support you; it is difficult
In Saint Augustine’s Confessions, Augustine’s perspective on friendship is that it is a mean to stray or turn away from good,
In Confessions by Saint Augustine he recognizes that friendships are necessities to human life because they bring people happiness and during the course of his life he ponders the role of happiness plays in his life. The philosophical term for happiness is Eudaimonia which is imperative to creating a whole person. Friends help strengthen and encourage Augustine to find a sense of community and belonging. He evaluates his friendships over the course of the three life stages. These stages in his life are adolescence, early adulthood and adulthood. In Augustine’s life he became a close friend to many, and at different stages of his life, they leave him questioning his own morals. They contributed to Augustine’s life because of the different
Augustine’s spiritual journey takes place on a serpentine track outfitted with tempting divergent paths and disincentives that are scattered throughout the duration of his expedition. As just one of the many different aspects of his life, friendship plays an essential role in his journey; consequently, it is also one of the many things that Augustine scrutinizes under his theological magnifying glass. For Augustine, friendship is among the most vital facets of human existence and poses as one of the many puzzle pieces in forming the picture of who a person is
There are several themes within the passage that shows Augustine’s worldview. For example, in the first line of the passage, he understands the concept of loving God later in life: “I have learnt to love you late”(Conf. X.27). This quote suggests that Augustine is now able to see why is mother was so skeptical in giving him is baptism early in his childhood. He commits to sin on numerous occasions, but comes back to find God again. In Book II, Augustine’s actions are paralleled with the prodigal son: “I strayed still farther from you and you did not restrain me.
In Confessions, Augustine provides anecdotes of landmines that he has encountered with some of his friendships. Augustine regales the reader first with a tale of his friends and him stealing from a pear tree. The cronies had no need for the pears, but were drawn to the action because, “(they) derived pleasure from the deed simply because it was forbidden,” (Confessions 37). While Augustine is unable to determine the root of this desire, the reader can assume that the presence of his friends at most peer pressured him to do it and at minimum lowered his inhibition against committing that sin. Friends can be a problem when they help you itch an itch that you know you should not itch.
One of the most marvelous types of relationships that anyone can have is Friendship. A majority of people today can say that they have many friendships, however not many know the meaning of true friendship. A true friendship is a relationship among people who will be there for each other in times of need, are usually the best company to be around, and provide the best advice in a certain situation.
There are billions of friendships in the world, but how many of them are centered around God? According to Augustine, a friendship without God is not a true friendship. That is not to say that all such relationships don’t fulfill some aspects of friendship, but the absence of God leads these relationships to be nothing more than companionship, a lower form of friendship. Augustine’s theory of true friendship is that it must bring one closer to God, an idea that matches up with the ideals of the Christian faith. In order to make this idea clear, one must explore the difference between true friendship and companionship. As Augustine’s book is filled with confessions, he spoke extensively about mistakes he made with regards to his early friendships.
They both went to school together, and enjoyed each other’s company. “…I had come to have a friend who because of our shared interests was very close. He was my age, and we shared the flowering of youth. As a boy he had grown up with me, and had gone to school together and played with one another…” Augustine and this unnamed friend knew each other for a short time, yet Augustine felt that he was losing someone he had known all his life. “You [God] took the man from this life when our friendship had scarcely completed a year. It had been sweet to me beyond all sweetnesses of life that I had experienced.” The unnamed friend came down a bad fever, and he was baptized while he was unconscious. Augustine felt as if this baptismal sacrament would have no affect on him and he would carry all the sins of his childhood. The unnamed friend did awake from his unconscious state and Augustine and the friend had a minor conflict over a joke Augustine made over the friend’s baptism. The friend did not find it a laughing matter, but they did resolve the conflict. Augustine left for a few days and while he was gone, his friend passed away. Augustine explains that he was stricken with grief from the death of his friend, which made him want to leave his hometown. Everything made him think of his friend, and he was always looking for him. Augustine was constantly weeping and was a wreck. “My home became a torture to me; my father’s house a strange
Friendships are special relationships that begin the development of social skills in each human person. Every time we open the door to form new friendships it begins with an experimental and holistic practice of philosophy and science. Whether we recognize the use of philosophy and science or not it’s being applied to shape friendships. The formation and bond of friendships has been studied for many years through science, philosophy, and theology. The point of this paper is to give the point of view and purpose of friendship according to science, philosophy, and theology and how it is applied to our everyday life.
“No one 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, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations (Oxford Dictionary).” To Aristotle, friendship is much more than this. In this research paper, I will evaluate whether or not Aristotle’s analysis of friendship is applicable to the modern world.
Aristotle highlighted the importance of friendship through various practices and concepts, such as utility and virtue. Virtuous practices were believed to enhance the friendship and encourage happiness among the participants (Kraut 64). Unfortunately, a friend whose behavior and practices are malevolent causes a rift in the practice of Aristotle’s principles. Therefore, to preserve the friendship and to protect one’s friend, one must do all that is possible to cease his or her friend’s actions.
“The two ladies, who had been intimate since childhood, reflected how little they knew each other”. This is how, author, Edith Wharton shows the relationship of two characters, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade, in the short story “Roman Fever.” These two women who are supposed to be friends, led envious lives of each other, and because of the way they lived they were very contrasting and conflicting characters. In the end, I believe Mrs. Slade was guiltier for her actions and in fact the whole incident would have never happened if it weren’t for her.