In his lifetime, Aristotle wrote on various subjects, including chemistry, biology, logic, and ethics. The Nicomachean ethics is by far the most popular work by Aristotle. Here, he explores various subjects as he tries to find moral character and virtue. Among the key virtues that Aristotle has discussed is friendship. According to him, friendship can be categorized into three classes namely, friendship of pleasure, friendship of utility, and virtuous friendship. Aristotle maintains that we need to attach a lot of value to friendship seeing that it is completely virtuous, and that it ranks above justice and honor. Aristotle has further broken down the theories of friendship into three different kinds of love. These are self-love of pleasure and self-love of utility, both of which become selfish (Walker, 1979).
On the other hand, self-love of virtue is the most preferred of the three. It also represents the highest good an individual could ever hope to achieve. On account of the three forms of love, human beings are, by and large, political in nature as evidenced by the love of pleasure and love of utility.
According to Aristotle, friendship of utility is “easily dissolved” and shallow as it tends to break easily when another person brings something to the relationship. Here Aristotle notes that trade occurs between different people and this is necessary in order to enhance the trade. This can be likened to the friendship that exist between for example, an individual and his/her mailman. This is more of an acquaintance than anything else. The two greet each other and engage in petty talk such as the weather. However, deep down, there is no relationship beyond that of acquaintances. Aristotle opined that this relationship is for the old as they “… are at such a time of life pursuing not what is pleasant but what is beneficial” (Sachs, 2002).
Aristotle contends that the friendship of pleasure often exists between the young since pleasures and passions impacts greatly on their lives. This form of friendship experiences feelings of belonging present in likeminded friends, or even passion between lovers. This type of friendship is unlike friendship of utility because people are more concerned with long-term benefits or a business deal, while in friendship of pleasure, people are seeking something to please them at that moment. This form of friendship is popular with the youth and it is constantly changing.
Accordingly, Aristotle notes that the young “……quickly become friends and quickly stop” and “… love and stop love quickly..” (Sachs, 2002). As such, According to Aristotle, both friendship of pleasure and utility are frequently changing and unstable./ this tends to dissolve friendship. Aristotle regards friendship of virtue as the highest kind of friendship. Aristotle regards friendship of the highest kind of friendship’. Aristotle argues that this form of friendship puts the best interests of others first, in spite of pressure of utility.
Considering the amount of time and effort that this kind of friendship requires, not to mention the many people who are involved in a virtuous friendship, Aristotle contends that friendships of utility, virtue, and pleasure share a number of similarities. Nonetheless, only the good prevail in this kind of friendship, “... “it is clear that only the good can be friends for themselves, since the bad do not enjoy their own kind unless some benefit comes from them”( Sachs, 2002).
We can pose a lot of question as to why Aristotle attached such a high view on friendship. Firstly, he valued friendship so highly that he thought of it as having superseded justice. As such, Aristotle believed that it would be impossible for anybody to opt to live without friends. As such, friends are crucial components in the life of an individual as no one is willing to live in their absence. Friendship is so important to those in positions of power that according to Aristotle, they rank it higher than justice.
In the friendship of pleasure, the underlying principle is the amount and kind of pleasures that participants can be able to obtain from such a relationship. A good example to include here would be friends who like hanging out at parties. These friends enjoy each other’s company. A number of people are opposed to the definition of friends that Aristotle has provided us with. They argue that we mainly do something to please ourselves first, then others. We are more likely to be honest with ourselves better than we can with others.
By stating that friendship of virtue endevours to do better on behalf of their friends, I feel that Aristotle issue that confused with the whole issue of human nature. Rarely does this ever happen and on this account, we may conclude that no variations are present between friendship of utility and friendships of pleasure and virtue (Irrera, 2005). Considering that these kinds of friendship are in the form of a hierarchical structure, accordingly, the lower kind of friendship inherits key features from the upper layer. For example, besides their being useful to others, friends of pleasure have also been noted to add zeal and pressure to the world. In contrast, friendship of utility lacks a pleasure aspect. Likewise, friendship of virtue contains features of pleasure as well as utility.
In case a friend of pleasure has requested for say, the concert ticket, we are likely to accompany them to the concert as chances are high that we also like attending school on such occasions. Consequently, we are likely to enjoy the company that such occasions had, not to mention that it generates pleasure. With regard to virtuous friendship, we are more likely to attend the concert with them and in the process, get to know the concert better.
I fail to understand why Aristotle has decided to categorize utility friendships along with the other types of friendships. My thinking is that Aristotle wishes to inform us that as long as a friendship has been reciprocated then it is indeed a form of friendship. I am opposed to this position. In our lives, we encounter so many people who do favors for us, or for whom we do favors for but nonetheless, we do not label this association as friendship. A good example is students who assist one another with reading.
Reference
Irrera, E. (2005). Between advantage and virtue: Aristotle’s theory of political friendship.
History of political thought, 26(4), 565-585.
Sachs, J. (2002). Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing.
Walker, A.D.M. (1979). Aristotle’s account of friendship in the Nicomachean ethics. Phronesis,
24(2), 180-196.
