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Personal Experience Annotation
The following essay you are about to read was for my Ideas of Friendship class. The essay was to express personal friendships in gained comparison to Aristotle’s ideas of friendship with a focus on Elizabeth Telfer argument on friendships. The following essay shows how my friendships compare to Telfer’s ideals of friendship. My personal experience focuses on my personal growth with friendships from youth to present day.
The intended reader for this piece is someone with the understanding on philosophical discussion on friendships or any knowledge on Aristotle. However, you do not need prior knowledge of Telfer or Aristotle to understand the different subjects discussed in the paper. The end result for the essay
Marion Winik’s “What Are Friends For?” expresses the characteristics of friendships and their importance in her existence. Winik begins by stating her theory of how some people can’t contribute as much to a friendship with their characteristic traits, while others can fulfill the friendship. She illustrates the eight friendships she has experienced, categorized as Buddies, Relative Friends, Work Friends, Faraway Friends, Former Friends, Friends You Love to Hate, Hero Friends, and New Friends. In like manner, the friendships that I have experienced agree and contradict with Winik’s categorizations.
Friendship can be debated as both a blessing and a curse; as a necessary part of life to be happy or an unnecessary use of time. Friends can be a source of joy and support, they can be a constant stress and something that brings us down, or anywhere in between. In Book 9 of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses to great lengths what friendship is and how we should go about these relationships. In the short story “Melvin in the Sixth Grade” by Dana Johnson, we see the main character Avery’s struggle to find herself and also find friendship, as well as Melvin’s rejection of the notion that one must have friends.
Aristotle argues that friendship is a vital part of life. It serves not only as a means to bond individuals together, but also a necessity in achieving overall happiness. Aristotle comments on the various types of friendships that exist, and the role they each play in society. He explains three overarching types; utility, pleasure, and complete friendship. Yet, with family, friendship is different than it is with companionship. As Aristotle states in his piece, Nicomachean Ethics on friendship in families, “they all seem to depend on paternal friendship” (Aristotle, 1161b18). In The Aeneid, Aeneas and Anchises’ relationship, perfectly embodies this. The father son bond does not distinctly resemble one of the three types, rather it is a friendship in of itself; a paternal friendship.
Aristotle presents his view of the mutual desire for good in others, or Friendship in his work, The Nicomachean Ethics. He asserts that friendship comes in three types, Virtue Friendship, Use Friendship, and Pleasure Friendship. He distinguishes Virtue Friendship as the perfect friendship, leaving Use Friendship and Pleasure friendship as deficient friendships. C.S. Lewis presents his view of friendship, which is motivated by appreciation love, in his book The Four Loves in a manner seeming to correspond to Aristotle’s concept of Virtue Friendship. Lewis also presents his perception of Companionship, which seems to correspond to Aristotle’s notion of Use and Pleasure Friendships. Lewis presents a more modern and seemingly accurate rehabilitation
The Nicomachean Ethics, written by Aristotle, represents his most important contribution within the field of Ethics; it is a collection of ten books, covering a variety of interesting topics, throughout the collection. Aristotle tries to draw a general understanding of the human good, exploring the causes of human actions, trying to identify the most common ultimate purpose of human actions. Indeed, Aristotelian’s ethics, also investigates through the psychological and the spiritual realms of human beings. Without pretending to exhaust with too many references, it would be rather useful to focus on the most criticized part of the philosopher’s attempt, which is also the very starting point of his masterpiece, identified as eudaimonia (happiness, well being) and ergon (function), in Aristotelian terms.
II In Books VIII and IX, Aristotle discusses the role of friendship in the good life.
In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle works to foster a more precise understanding of complex ideas including justice and friendship. Of course, he assigns varying levels of importance to qualities depending on how necessary they are to becoming a happy and self-sufficient individual, which he sees as the ultimate aim for human beings. As such, he seems to create a hierarchical structure in which aspects that push an individual closer to happiness are effectively superior to those which do not. Yet, as he develops the ideas of friendship and justice more, dividing them into their constituent categories, the hierarchy between them begins to become more obscured, suggesting that, rather than the two existing in service of one or the other, the
Friendship is not something that has adapted over time. The desire to seek out and surround ourselves with other human beings, our friends, is in our nature. Philosophers such as Aristotle infer that friendship is a kind of virtue, or implies virtue, and is necessary for living. Nobody would ever choose to live without friends, even if we had all the other good things. The relationship between two very different young boys, Bruno and Shmuel’s in the film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is an example of the everlasting bond of a perfect friendship based upon the goodness of each other.
Aristotle wrote on many subjects in his lifetime but one of the virtues that he examines more extensively is friendship. Aristotle believes that there are three different kinds of friendship: utility, pleasure, and virtuous friendships. He also argues that a real friendship should be highly valued because it is a complete virtue and he believes it to be greater than honor and justice. Aristotle suggests that human’s love of utility and pleasure is the only reason why the first two types of friendships exist. Aristotle also argues that humans only set up these types of relationships for personal gain. But when he speaks of the virtuous friendships, Aristotle states that it is one of the greatest attainments one can achieve.
In this paper, I will examine the duties of friendship. I will look at arguments in favor of the view that there are special moral duties involved in friendship, but will ultimately reject this view. I will then explain what role I see friendship having in morality even without these duties.
How does Aristotle understand the human being through virtue ethics? In the first part I will explain his notions of the Telos which in his view equals happiness and the methods that he uses to determine what they are. In the second part I will explain his thinking towards knowledge and how it is based on sense perception, reason and reality. In the third part I will examine what Aristotle considers a being and where he distinguishes achievable human actions. In the fourth part I will demonstrate the four causes of his theory. In the final part I will discuss what a human being must do in order to achieve the telos in their life time.
In what ways does Aristotle present the human being? In this paper I will interpret how Aristotle understands the human being. In the first part of this paper I will explain the concept of the human telos. In the second part I will present how Aristotle defines knowledge the four causes in his theory. In the third part I will round off the idea of a human being according to Aristotle. In the fourth part I will explain the four causes in Aristotle’s theory. Finally, I will disclose with two types of virtues presented in the theory.
Happiness is the goal of every human beings according to Aristotle, however what does happiness imply? It is in his attempt to define happiness and to find a way to attain it that Aristotle comes across the idea of virtue. It is thus necessary to explain the relationship between these two terms. I will start by defining the good and virtue and then clarify their close link with the argument of function, I will then go into more details in explaining the different ways in which they are closely related and finally I am going to give an account of the apparent contradiction in Book X which is a praise of the life of study.
The influence of the sympathy of friend and affection is a definite pleasant contentment and seldom sadness. The ‘’Friendship’ in Self- Reliance and other Essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, ineffable essay brings out much charismatic ideas about friendship. The essay is purely based on friendship, explicates the value of friends. Emerson incisively valued relationships and he described his feelings through the wisdom of his writing in ‘’Friendship’’. Emerson often used potent metaphors and aphorism to advocate the ideas expressed in his text for example ‘’ it is better to live alone, there is not friendship with a fool’’ (44).
In fact, Aristotle made the point that it is better to give than to receive in friendship. Aristotle also believed that friendship can only arise indirectly, like happiness. It comes with living what he called a good life, including strong personal values such as honesty, character and passion. Our contemporary culture, for all its benefits, tends to focus more on commerce rather than helping us live Aristotle’s “good life”.