Aristotle's Beliefs on Friendship - Admission/Application Essay Example

The theories proposed by Aristotle on friendship majorly outline friendship to a forms of self love. However, he explains that self love that expresses more on utility and that which dwells on pleasure are forms of selfishness. Love of virtue is the ultimate and best form of friendship that any human being can aim at. The differences exhibited among the different forms of friendship symbolize the political nature of human beings. Not all human beings in the universe can attain the three forms of friendship.

There are some people who value one form of friendship than the other. This is manifested in the love of utility and love of pleasure. These two forms of friendship are majorly used for selfish gains among human beings. According to Aristotle, friendship of virtue is the best form off friendship that an individual can ever attain (The Wire, par 2). Friendship of utility The friendship of utility has been described by Aristotle as that forms which is shallow and lacking vision. Most people who form this type of friendship realize that it is easily broken up whenever various challenges occur.

Further, Aristotle says that friendship of utility is in most cases base on the dependence of one person to another; what brings individuals in friendship is the possible gain from another. These kinds of friendship do not take long before they dissolve. However, Aristotle recommends this type of friendship to the young since they are likely not to live with the persons with whom they are currently in friendship. In addition, this type of friendship can be broken as a result of very petty issues or small changes in the partner’s behaviors (The Wire, par 2).

Friendship of pleasure On friendship of pleasure, Aristotle says that it is majorly built on passions and benefits that an individual can derive from the partner. This form of friendship is based on short term benefits between friends who are in love as well as feelings of belonging among friends who share similar characteristics. The main difference between friendship of utility and friendship of pleasure is that the latter is based on long term deals while the former is based on short term deals.

This type of friendship is common among the youth. Further, Aristotle views this type of friendship to be unstable. Individuals in a relationship love stop to love and then love again; this form of friendship can change at any time when the short term pleasures are not met (The Wire, par 3). Friendship of virtue The best form of friendship according to Aristotle is the one of virtue. This form of friendship is based on trust and goodwill for one another. Each partner in a relationship wishes each other success in life regardless of pleasure and utility.

Aristotle considers this type of friendship to be of two partners sharing similar characteristics in their life. Lack of common virtues may lead to friendship of utility and pleasure. This ensures that the relationship is long lasting and not short lived friendship formed based on utility and pleasure. Further, Aristotle states that it takes a lot of time to form friendship of value since both partners need to learn more about the characters of their friends. The main similarity between the friendship of virtue and that of pleasure is in the common benefits that can be derived from such relationships.

In addition, Aristotle asserts that it is only