ETHICS

Summary It is a common observation that a benefactor has friendlier feelings toward the beneficiary of his kindness than the beneficiary has toward his benefactor. The usual explanation for this apparent paradox is that the parties are related to each other as creditor and debtor, but this is false because […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapter VII – Good Deeds

Summary Unanimity or concord is another feeling similar to friendship. It exists when interested parties, whether they be an entire population or only two individuals agree about their common interests, have a practical and important end in view, unanimously adopt a policy for attaining this end, and carry it out […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapter VI – Friendship and Concord

Summary Goodwill resembles friendship, but it is not the same thing since it is possible to feel goodwill toward strangers or people who are unaware of one’s feelings, while friendship would be impossible in such circumstances. Goodwill also differs from affection because it does not have the same intensity and […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapter V – Friendship and Goodwill

Summary The most important elements in one’s friendship for others and the characteristics which distinguish the various forms of friendship in which he engages, are derived from the feelings with which one regards himself. There are five definitions of a friend: One who desires and performs the good, or what […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapter IV – The Basis of Friendship Is Self-Love

Summary Friendships break up when one partner does not remain what he was initially or when both parties discover that the basis of their friendship is not what they had assumed it to be. Former friends are always entitled to more consideration than people who have never been one’s friends, […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapter III – Dissolution of Friendships

Summary Many problems are encountered when assessing the claims for payment of different friends. There are no exact rules for such matters since the nature of claims and relationships vary. In general, though, every claim must be evaluated in its own right according to its merits and one’s obligations to […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapter II – Conflicting Obligations

Summary Where the parties are unequal, friendship is preserved by establishing a proportion that restores equality. In friendships between fellow-citizens (e.g., commercial relations), money is used as a common standard for determining the value of different kinds of products and services so that a balance can be achieved. It is […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapter I – Measuring the Mutual Obligations of Friends

The good life as it has been described in the earlier books of the Ethics finds its culmination in the virtue of friendship. It is here that one’s activities are characterized not by mere obedience to the laws of duty but by a certain spontaneity which is the expression of […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Analysis for Book VIII

Summary There are often mutual recriminations in unequal friendships because each party thinks he is entitled to more than he has and such a state of affairs often leads to a break-up. The superior partner may claim that more is due him on principle and the inferior partner that he […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Chapter XIV – The Mutual Obligations of Unequal Friends

Summary As already stated, there are three forms of friendship, each of which is divided into two kinds, that between equals and that between unequals. In equal friendships based on utility or pleasure there is a moral obligation on each party to provide the other with equivalent service or pleasure […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Chapter XIII – The Mutual Obligations of Equal Friends