The Five Great Philosophies of LifeHyde, William De Witt
Philosophy
The Five Great Philosophies of Life
Hyde, William De Witt
Ethics; Philosophy, Ancient
Friendship he defines as "unanimity on questions of the public advantage
and on all that touches life." This unanimity, however, is very
different from agreement in opinion. It is seeing things from the same
point of view; or, more accurately, it is the appreciation of each
other's interests and aims. The whole tendency of Aristotle thus far has
been to develop individuality; to make each man different from every
other man. Conventional people are all alike. But the people who have
cherished ends of their own, and who make all their choices with
reference to these inwardly cherished ends, become highly
differentiated. The more individual your life becomes, the fewer people
there are who can understand you. The man who has ends of his own is
bound to be unintelligible to the man who has no such ends, and is
merely drifting with the crowd. Now friendship is the bringing together
of these intensely individual, highly differentiated persons on a basis
of mutual sympathy and common understanding. Friendship is the
recognition and respect of individuality in others by persons who are
highly individualised themselves. That is why Aristotle says true
friendship is possible only between the good; between people, that is,
who are in earnest about ends that are large and generous and
public-spirited enough to permit of being shared. "The bad," he says,
"desire the company of others, but avoid their own. And because they
avoid their own company, there is no real basis for union of aims and
interests with their fellows." "Having nothing lovable about them, they
have no friendly feelings toward themselves. If such a condition is
consummately miserable, the moral is to shun vice, and strive after
virtue with all one's might. For in this way we shall at once have
friendly feelings toward ourselves and become the friends of others. A
good man stands in the same relation to his friend as to himself, seeing
that his friend is a second self." "The conclusion, therefore, is that
if a man is to be happy, he will require good friends."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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