Friendship and Aristotle - Term Paper Example

He identifies three types of friendships: utility, pleasure and virtue. True friendship is the disposition, between two or more individuals without any motivated desires. Like true love, friendship is unconditional. The model of the best friendship that Aristotle outlines in the Nichomachean Ethics is based upon virtue. Aristotle writes, “when everyone strains to achieve what is fine and concentrates on the finest actions, everything that is right will be done for the common good, and each person individually will receive the greatest of good, since that is the character of virtue” (147).

From the lowest step of the ladder that is the individual friendship, Aristotle takes friendship to great heights of the levels of country and state and asserts that friendship is the finest and significant virtue an individual can own and at the highest and the perfect level it has the aura of spirituality which is the ultimate goal of humankind. Friendship is like the colors of the rainbow. Just like white is the base of the seven colors of rainbow, there are different types of friends as per the demand of the situation and places like school, work, church, home and other secular activities.

Aristotle’s basic formula of friendship is ingrained in sincerity. He paints friendship with the broadest connotation possible to highlight its importance. Friendship with motivated desires, related to utility and pleasure will not last long because secular desires have an element of perishability. Friendship co-exists with virtue. If not, it will lead to conflicts and end soon. In the broad sense, friendship motivates government officials to work in a congenial atmosphere for the greater good of the nation.

Aristotle’s inspiration to describe in depth the virtues of friendship is derived from the Greek word philia which has a bigger connotation than friendship in its limited sense. Philia embraces within its ambit every kind of friendship like