Account Of Friendship

Lisa Jacquiot PHIL211

Aristotle’s Account of Friendship

The Nicomachean Ethics, one of Aristotle’s best known work on ethics, gives an account of his views on topics such as happiness, moral virtues or friendship. It explores the theme of a good life in ten books.

In Aristotle’s view, most activities are a means to a higher end. The highest human good, then, is that activity that is an end in itself. That good is happiness. When we aim at happiness, we do so for its own sake, not because happiness helps us realize some other end. The goal of the Ethics is to determine how best to achieve happiness. In addition to a guide for happiness, Ethics represents the importance of getting a moral education which helps us to become rational and immune

It is also in friendship that people feel most fulfilled, and so it is tempting to think that by studying friendship we can see how the life of moral virtue and happiness come together. This paper will evaluate whether Aristotle’s discussion of friendship in the Nicomachean Ethics points toward a plausible account of friendship. It will explore Aristotle’s main arguments for his account and offer an overall assessment by determining which arguments seem strong or

Aristotle’s account of genuine friendship does justice to the individual character of friendship. There are at least two ways to explain how the notion of friendship can be linked to that of individuality: First, friendship is a relationship between two individuals who have specifically chosen each other. Second, the esteem for the other person that marks true friendship is linked to the value of this person’s unique individual personality. Aristotelian friendship satisfies the first definition of individuality. Indeed, Aristotle does not see friendship as a relation that necessarily exists between all virtuous persons. One person of good character will feel kindness toward another whom he or she believes to have a good character. This creates only potential for friendship and more is required for developing an actual –true – friendship. For instance, sufficient time is needed so that one can get to know the other person. In other words, both parties need to dedicate a lot of time to shared activities with the other person, and it is very difficult to do this with many people at the same time. Thus true friendship is rare and quite exclusive. However, Aristotle’s theory fails to explain the second criteria of individuality in a friendship, which is one flaw in his argument and could be the target of objections. Aristotle asserts that in the case