Critical review of international social and political philosophy
Paging:
Volume 10 (2007) nr. 2 pages 125-145
Year:
2007-06
Contents:
Friendship has different aspects, enacted socially and politically in ways that differ by locale and by era. A key difference is between ancient and modern times, the one marked by low density and physical intimacy, the other by high density and sharp individuation. The challenge is to transfer what is valuable from the first and adapt it aptly to the politics of the second. This philosophical retrieval of friendship, and its express restoration to politics, encounters difficulties, not least along stipulative and analytical lines. This essay sketches a basic conceptual grid for friendship applicable to modernity. It stresses continuity between reciprocal (dyadic) friendships and friendship networks, on the one hand; and unilateral friendship (universal friendliness), on the other. The state, a system of power relations, can be helpfully checked and balanced at the level of civil society by vibrant dyads and networks and a generalized morality of friendliness.
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