Friendship In The Nicomachean Ethics By Aristotle

Friendship is one of the most important things in the world. Every single person cherishes it and holds it dear to their heart, even if they don’t realize it. It’s a truly universal theme that everyone can relate and respond to. Storytellers and authors tend to capitalize on this seeing how friendship is one of the most consistent themes in literature. It dates back to Shakespeare’s time and even far before in Ancient Greece. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle said that, “Without friends, no one would want to live, even if he had all other goods.” He obviously believed that the love that comes from friendship, or philia, was the most important thing the someone could hope to obtain. Philia is a consistent theme that shows up in many Greek texts, including Aristotle’s
Further delving into the Nicomachean Ethics, that quote is not the only time that Aristotle references how important philia is. He has numerous chapters on all different sorts of aspects of friendship- how to obtain it, how long it should take to obtain, what makes up a good friend, and so on and so forth. Aristotle divides philia into three categories: friendships of utility, friendships of pleasure, and friendships of the good, with friendships of the good being the “purest” as it is driven solely out of care for the friend. It’s considered a completely selfless form of friendship, as the only thing you are getting out of it is the other person’s company. It is referred to as a friendship of the good because it can only take place between “good” people. Friendships of utility and pleasure are both a bit shallower in their definitions of friendship, but are still valuable in Aristotle’s eyes. Often the three types of philia overlap, either in the story as a whole or between two characters individually. Take Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, for instance. Friendship is a prominent theme in the story and it features many