Friendship: Seeing It Through Aristotle’s Eyes
In Book VIII of one of Aristotle’s most popular works, Nicomachean Ethics, he claims
friendship to be something so necessary for life that no one would choose to live without
friends. He believes this particular relationship between people is needed whether you are
young or old. When the truest form of friendship (consisting of men who are good and
alike in virtue) is present in a person’s life, he or she is deterred from immoral deeds and
sinful natures. Under good influence, both parties are encouraged and stimulated to fulfill
noble deeds and elevate one another to a higher standard of moral character. Aristotle
defines this type of friendship as the perfect friendship, the only form of friendship and a
friendship of good. However, achieving this friendship in every person that you meet is
rare as it requires extensive time and effort in maintaining such a relationship.
One could have many friends and gain many friends throughout his or her lifetime,
however, it does not necessarily mean that every single friend offers friendship of good.
One thought that might arise from this point is: are there different levels of friendships?
Aristotle offers an extensive and detailed answer to this question in his theory of
friendship. He describes three types of friendship that we encounter and foster throughout
the course of our lives: friendship utility, friendships of pleasure, and friendships of good.
In this paper, I will summarize each aspect of friendship according to Aristotle and offer
my opinion on it based upon my own knowledge and drawing from my own experiences.
The first type of friendship that I will summarize is friendship of utility. This type of
friendship is not Aristotle’s definition of a perfect friendship and is the furthest thing away
from friendship of good. In a friendship of utility, both parties take advantage and use one
another to gain and benefit in some way or manner. For instance, business partnerships,
classmates and roommates are examples of people cordially offering and receiving in
return. Even though this interaction is not the most intimate and may not go very deep on a
personal level, Aristotle loosely categorizes it under friendship due to both parties
exhibiting kindly feelings toward one another. This imperfect friendship is not permanent
—once both parties have exhausted one another of their usefulness and lose the need to
sustain the friendship, the relationship will dissolve and people involved will part ways.
