Friendship Philosophy Reading Stack Curated
A curated reading stack on "Foundations of Friendship" features Plato's *Lysis*, Aristotle's *Nicomachean Ethics*, and Marcus Aurelius' *Meditations*. The collection emphasizes Aristotle's insight that "The friend is another self" — connecting classical wisdom to modern self-understanding.
Aristotle’s exploration of friendship in *Nicomachean Ethics* occupies two of its ten books, where he categorizes relationships into three types: those based on utility, pleasure, or virtue. Friendships of utility are for mutual benefit and common among the elderly, while friendships of pleasure are based on shared enjoyment. The highest form, for Aristotle, is a friendship of virtue between two good people who admire each other's character. These relationships are rare and long-lasting because goodness is an enduring quality, but they require significant time and familiarity to develop. Plato's *Lysis* takes a more inquisitive approach, ultimately ending without a firm conclusion on the nature of friendship. The dialogue dramatically explores different theories, including whether friendship is based on similarity or difference, and whether it requires reciprocation. One key idea Socrates examines in *Lysis* is that friendship stems from a desire for what one lacks. In this view, those who are neither entirely good nor entirely bad seek out the good for self-improvement, much like a sick person seeks the "friendship" of a doctor. The Stoic perspective of Marcus Aurelius in *Meditations* views friendship as a duty tied to living a virtuous life and benefiting the community. He emphasized the importance of working to maintain relationships, urging one to try and mend things even with a friend whose resentment seems unjustified. Aurelius also issued a stark warning against insincerity, coining the term "wolfish friendship" to describe false companionship. For the Stoics, a true friend's good and benevolent nature should be immediately apparent, showing itself plainly in their eyes.
