Friendship is an important aspect of the people’s lives, and this kind of communication gives a sense to the existence. A lot of people consider friendship to be the important part of social life and interpersonal communication. Friendship is not only the process of interaction between people which is based on the mutual benefits, but it also has deeper roots and reasons which should be taken into consideration. Before you continue to read this paper we want to direct you to the GPALabs writing service to buy philosophy papers. You can also check out philosophy paper writing help.
Many philosophers discussed the nature of friendship and its role for the society and interaction between people. Aristotle was one of the first philosophers who discovered the phenomenon of friendship and described its role in the society.
Aristotle defined three types of friendship. The first type is based on the mutual benefits which the people can get from this type of relationship. The second type of friendship is based on pleasure which people get because of the pleasure qualities of each other. The third type is based on goodness and mutual help which people involved in this relationship provide to each other.
Aristotle considered the first and the second type of friendship to be a short lived because people are involved in these types of relationships due to qualities that are not necessarily long-term. People who are involved into the friendship which is based on the goodness provide each other with the feelings and qualities which give the benefits to both sides, and it is also must be noted that this kind of friendship is developing for a longer period but it is the most reliable kind of friendship.
Also, Aristotle saw the connection between love and friendship. The philosopher stated that different kind of relationships had something in common and this thing is love. Aristotle stated that in friendship it is important to give more love that the person get and it is the aspect which can guarantee the success of the relationship. However, the philosopher also stated that the nature of human is based on the desire to be loved rather than to love so the true joy is to express the desire to love someone more than to be loved and the friendship which is based on goodness can give that feeling to the person.
The things which friends wish to each other are tightly connected to the type of friendship which exists between the people. If the friendship is based on particular benefits which people get from the relationships, people wish their friends the benefit which they want to get by themselves. If the friendship is based on the pleasure, the person wishes to his friend the kind of pleasure which he appreciates in this friendship (Aristotle, 14).
These kinds of friendship are related to self-love as wishes to the friends are based on the inner desire to get the same things from this relationship. The third type of friendship which is based on the goodness is related to the mutual respect and care which means that the person wishes to the friend only good things because he sincerely wants his friend to be happy.
Friendship according to Aristotle is an important aspect of people’s lives which can provide them with the feelings of joy and mutual care, and that is why it is important for a happy life. The philosopher stated that in the case of true friendship which is based on goodness the person cannot have a great number of friends as such friendship requires an effort and time which cannot be devoted to many people (Aristotle, 18).
A friendship might end in the case if the relationship between people is based on the qualities and things such as pleasure which is not long-term and at the particular moment people may stop their communication because they do not experience that kind of emotions which they had before.
Another philosopher who reflected on the topic of friendship is de La Rochefoucauld. The philosopher stated that true love could be found more easily than true friendship. People who are involved in that kind of relationship should feel a great responsibility for a person to whom they can open their minds and souls. The author stated that there is a strong connection between self-love and friendship as people expect that when they give something to a friend, they will get the same thing back.
So, the philosopher considers a true friendship to be a relationship in which the person loves his friend more than himself. However, the author stated that such friendship is not common and when the person finds the friend whom he is ready to give such amount of trust and love he should care about this friendship as it is a very rare thing (La Rochefoucauld and Chesterfield, 10). The philosopher analyzed the feelings about fortunes and misfortunes of friends, and he stated that true friends could prove their love by supporting the friend in the case of misfortunes and it is a chance to prove the devotion and goodness.
Also, the author analyzed the art of giving the advice, and he stated that it is very complicated for a person to receive good advice and use it than to give the one to other people.
Analyzing the works of these philosophers, it must be noted that in some cases the statements about friendship in the modern society cannot be taken into consideration as they are not actual today. However, it must be noted that some of the statements can be useful for the analysis of friendship as the important aspect of interactions in people’s everyday lives. First of all, it must be noted that friendship is very important for a happy life. Friends give the necessary support and sense to the life as true friendship is based on the mutual respect and care which also is based on love.
It must be noted in this case that friendship is tightly connected with love as true friendship is that one in which the personal care about the friend more than about himself. This kind of relationship is very rare as people often try to find the benefits for themselves everywhere, and often they like most of all the feeling that someone cares about them, but not the feeling when they care about other people. When the friendship is based on the particular quality of the friend which gives the pleasure to the person, there is a high risk that this friendship will end very soon as the person might stop getting this benefits from the friend and the interest will be lost.
True friendship should be based on goodness and care and in this case, it must be noted that Aristotle was right. However, the philosopher stated that equality is the necessary aspect of friendship and people should take the same positions in the society in order to be friends. In the modern society the status, age or the level of the income is not the main factors which can have an impact on the process of choosing friends. The boundaries are blurred in the society, and people are free to choose friends from any social groups, country or culture.
Analyzing the view on the friendship of Aristotle and de La Rochefoucauld it must be noted that even though these considerations were developed a long time ago and in different periods some statements are true even today. However, it must be noted that each friendship is individual and that is why this kind of relationship is hard to analyze from a philosophy point of view. Friendship is a unique phenomenon which can tie tightly even different people without any particular reasons but these ties can be very strong through time and distance cannot break them.
Friendship is a necessity for a happy life as the main benefits from a friendship which can be got by the people is the feeling that there is always a person who can take care and who can share good and bad moments in the life no matter what. Friendship can be different, based on goodness or respect, but there is one common feature that is necessary for true friendship – love and care – which can help the friends to be connected through time and space. True friendship is a very rare thing, and that is why people should value the friends whom they can love more than themselves.
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