Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Chapter XII – Friendship within the Family

Summary All friendship requires some degree of association or community. Associations between fellow-citizens, fellow-voyagers, fellow-workers, fellow-tribesmen, etc., are usually built on some kind of agreement or mutual understanding pertaining to aims and duties, but friendship or love between members of a family falls into a special category and is itself […]

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Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Chapter XI – Friendship and Justice under Different Constitutions

Summary Each governmental form exhibits a form of friendship co-extensive with its conception of justice. Under perverted constitutions, the role of mutual friendship decreases in the same degree as that of justice. For example, the friendship of a king for his subjects expresses itself in his unselfish benevolence toward them, […]

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Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Chapter VIII – Giving and Receiving Affection

Summary Most people prefer receiving to giving affection, and equate receiving affection and having many friends with honor or prestige. The essence of friendship, however, is giving affection. The relationship of mothers and children is a good example of this. It is typical of mothers to give more affection than […]

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Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Chapter VII – Friendship between Unequals

Summary There is another kind of friendship in which the parties are unequal (e.g., friendship between father and son, older and younger person, husband and wife, ruler and subject). These relationships vary depending on the differences between the parties (e.g., the relationship between parents and children is not the same […]

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Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Chapter V – Friendship as a Characteristic and an Activity

Summary Friendship is a permanent disposition expressed or realized in friendly activities. Affection can be felt even for inanimate objects, but the reciprocal affection which is the basis of friendship involves deliberate choice, and such choice involves the action of a disposition. Affection is an emotion, but friendship is a […]

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Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Chapter IV – Comparison of Perfect and Imperfect Friendship

Summary The two inferior kinds of friendship described in Chapter III are less permanent than perfect friendship for many reasons, all of which depend on the kinds of utility or pleasure which provide their basis. Perfect friendship can only exist between good men, but the inferior kinds can exist between […]

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