Male Friendship as Viewed by Aristotle, Cicero, Montaigne, and Emerson

All four writers, Aristotle, Cicero, Montaigne, and Emerson discuss the importance of male friendship, and all four characters make statements about the superiority of friendship above other associations. However, the tone, the interpretation of friendship, and manner of rhetoric is influenced by the translation of the individual writer’s culture.

Aristotle uses a rather categorical approach to friendship. By making strict delineations and then using examples, he establishes a rather strict definition of friendship that is created along lines of social class. He argues, among other things, that friendship must be between similarly virtuous men of equal standing. In addition, the purest form of friendship, and the one that Aristotle considers the only genuine friendship, involves that of two men and that is free from outside reciprocation.

The writer who most directly addresses Aristotle’s assessment on friendship is Cicero in his Laelius: on Friendship. Quite bitingly, he begins with Laelius remarking that he does not claim to be like the Greeks “who claim the ability to deal with any subject you care to set before them, without the slightest preparation.” In fact, the whole presentation is in contrast with the didactic manner that Aristotle uses. Laelius, throughout the work, claims his lack of expertise in the subject, which is in stark contrast of Aristotle who assumed knowledge in the subject.

So while Cicero intentionally diverges from the style of Aristotle, he nevertheless adopts many of Aristotle’s maxims. Like Aristotle, Cicero argues that one must “place friendship above every other human concern” and that “friendship is only possible between good men” who are similar and equal to each other. Furthermore, in claimin...

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...ip, he seems to take an opinion of friendship that is based on his lonely life and that is aptly alien to the other writers’ views on friendship.

In examining Aristotle, Cicero, Montaigne, and Emerson’s views on friendship, one can see how the meaning of friendship has evolved through time and see the respective perceptions of friendship exemplify the cultural values of the writers. Aristotle took on a somewhat elitist viewpoint on friendship due to Athenian society’s social hierarchy; Cicero takes on a more realistic one because the politics of Roman friendships; Montaigne adopts a more modern interpretation of friendship as time has progressed and finally Emerson’s transcendental beliefs are shown in his writings about friendship. However, it is uncanny that despite the span of time and cultures, all agree on the profound importance of friendship for individuals.