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This is muddled. Aristotle lays it out clearly in the Nichomachean Ethics. There are 3 basic divisions of friendship: those out of utility (i.e. quid pro quo or

This is muddled. Aristotle lays it out clearly in the Nichomachean Ethics. There are 3 basic divisions of friendship: those out of utility (i.e. quid pro quo or alliances toward a shared practical end), those out of pleasure (i.e. shared interest to a non practical end), and those out of virtue (i.e. a recognition of shared core moral value that defines your highest goals in life). He expounds upon the details of this at length, and I've found it to be pretty accurate.

nomilk 4y ago
> (Aristotle) expounds upon the details of this at length Does there exist a TL;DR of Aristotle's views on this? (e.g. a 10-60 minute version)
- lr4444lr 4y ago
  Did a bit of sleuthing on YouTube, and it's actually surprisingly hard to find a credentialed professor lecturing specifically on this part of Book VIII in isolation from the rest of the work, but I did stumble on this summary, which to my recollection of the reading, is a little dry pretty decent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucB_X6h_Mi4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucB_X6h_Mi4
- yesenadam 4y ago
  I imagine you could read the chapter or two on friendship in the book in about that long, there's really not that much text. Aristotle's surviving works are only lecture notes, his actual writings all being lost. http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.8.viii.html http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.8.viii.html http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.9.ix.html http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.9.ix.html
josephg 4y ago
Interesting! These three ideas roughly line up with a few of the stages in Ken Wilbur’s spiral dynamics: Shared pleasure describes the opportunist. Utility describes the achiever and virtue … well , that more closely describes Robert Kegan’s stage 4 (systematiser). If we play the missing notes of that scale, we would infer you could also be friends with someone out of diplomat energy - they make you feel (socially) safe to be around and appreciated. Or they help you feel grounded in being the better aspects of your personality. I think both of these aspects come out in strong friendships and healthy romantic relationships.

nomilk 4y ago

> (Aristotle) expounds upon the details of this at length Does there exist a TL;DR of Aristotle's views on this? (e.g. a 10-60 minute version)

lr4444lr 4y ago
Did a bit of sleuthing on YouTube, and it's actually surprisingly hard to find a credentialed professor lecturing specifically on this part of Book VIII in isolation from the rest of the work, but I did stumble on this summary, which to my recollection of the reading, is a little dry pretty decent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucB_X6h_Mi4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucB_X6h_Mi4
yesenadam 4y ago
I imagine you could read the chapter or two on friendship in the book in about that long, there's really not that much text. Aristotle's surviving works are only lecture notes, his actual writings all being lost. http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.8.viii.html http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.8.viii.html http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.9.ix.html http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.9.ix.html

josephg 4y ago

Interesting! These three ideas roughly line up with a few of the stages in Ken Wilbur’s spiral dynamics: Shared pleasure describes the opportunist. Utility describes the achiever and virtue … well , that more closely describes Robert Kegan’s stage 4 (systematiser). If we play the missing notes of that scale, we would infer you could also be friends with someone out of diplomat energy - they make you feel (socially) safe to be around and appreciated. Or they help you feel grounded in being the better aspects of your personality. I think both of these aspects come out in strong friendships and healthy romantic relationships.