Kindly Feeling, though resembling Friendship, is not identical with it,
because it may exist in reference to those whom we do not know and
without the object of it being aware of its existence, which Friendship
cannot. (This, by the way, has also been said before.) And further, it
is not even Affection because it does not imply intensity nor yearning,
which are both consequences of Affection. Again Affection requires
intimacy but Kindly Feeling may arise quite suddenly, as happens
sometimes in respect of men against whom people are matched in any way,
I mean they come to be kindly disposed to them and sympathise in their
wishes, but still they would not join them in any action, because, as
we said, they conceive this feeling of kindness suddenly and so have
but a superficial liking.
What it does seem to be is the starting point of a Friendship; just as
pleasure, received through the sight, is the commencement of Love: for
no one falls in love without being first pleased with the personal
appearance of the beloved object, and yet he who takes pleasure in it
does not therefore necessarily love, but when he wearies for the object
in its absence and desires its presence. Exactly in the same way men
cannot be friends without having passed through the stage of Kindly
Feeling, and yet they who are in that stage do not necessarily advance
to Friendship: they merely have an inert wish for the good of those
toward whom they entertain the feeling, but would not join them in any
action, nor put themselves out of the way for them. So that, in a
metaphorical way of speaking, one might say that it is dormant
Friendship, and when it has endured for a space and ripened into
intimacy comes to be real Friendship; but not that whose object is
advantage or pleasure, because such motives cannot produce even Kindly
Feeling.
I mean, he who has received a kindness requites it by Kindly Feeling
towards his benefactor, and is right in so doing: but he who wishes
another to be prosperous, because he has hope of advantage through his
instrumentality, does not seem to be kindly disposed to that person but
rather to himself; just as neither is he his friend if he pays court to
him for any interested purpose.
Kindly Feeling always arises by reason of goodness and a certain
amiability, when one man gives another the notion of being a fine
fellow, or brave man, etc., as we said was the case sometimes with
those matched against one another.
Chapter VI.
Unity of Sentiment is also plainly connected with Friendship, and
therefore is not the same as Unity of Opinion, because this might exist
even between people unacquainted with one another.