Aristotle s Portrayal Of Friendship - 1708 Words

You have two close friends, while one is alive the other dead, but your relationship with both of them work to develop your virtuous character. While in Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle s depiction of friendship is a lively one, they show affection and their own virtuous character translates to our own. In contrast, Seneca s On The Shortness Of Life suggests that we should seek friends of virtue with the dead because they possess the ability to always be with us and guide us with their own knowledge of life. While Aristotle and Seneca would rather choose one form of friendship over the other, we can denounce the notion that we must pick one of these two friends when we can have both because these two types of relationships work together to†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"But friendship seems to consist more in giving than in receiving affection† (213). Friendship in itself is virtuous and when you obtain a true friend not only is establishing the relationship itself seeking vi rtue but obtaining it as well. This is made evident when Aristotle tells us this, â€Å". . .friendship; for it is a kind of virtue, or implies virtue, and it is also necessary for living† (200). However, for a true friendship to be good, the two bodies of the friendship must be good individually in order to obtain virtue through the relationship. â€Å"Only the friendship of those who are good, and similar in their goodness, is perfect. For these people, each alike wish good for the other qua good. . .† (205). Good people are friends because they are both good and seek out goodness in their own lives and do this through their friends. â€Å"The good are friends for each other’s sake because their bond is goodness† (208). By befriending good people, you are able to absorb the other person s goodness, which in turn leads to your own virtue and your virtue only adds to the other s. â€Å"For when a good man becomes a friend to another he becomes that other ’s good; so each loves his own good, and repays what he receives by wishing the good of the other†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (209). Another interesting point that Aristotle discusses is this notion that we see ourselves in our friends and this not only leads us to themShow MoreRelatedIndian English Novel17483 Words   |  70 Pagescontemporary touch with the coming of Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao and R.K.Narayan. The social disparity of India which was aptly described by Mulk Raj Anand in his Coolie, the imaginary village life with its entire unedited realities in R.K. Narayan`s Malgudi Days and last but not the least the aura of Gandhism depicted by Raja Rao in his remarkable novel Kanthapura portrayed a whole new India. The need of the `foreigners` depicting India amidst their write ups was not needed as Indians wantedRead Morewisdom,humor and faith19596 Words   |  79 Pages there is â€Å"a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.† Enlightening comments on the relationship of humor to wisdom were once made by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), perhaps the twentieth-century’s most influential U. S. theologian (and a favorite thinker of President Obama). Although Niebuhr generally agreed that humor stresses the incongruous, he also, like Chesterton and Solomon, linked it with humility. Humor is a proof of the capacity of the self to gain a vantageRead MoreAlcohol Marketing and Advertising25059 Words   |  101 Pagesthe desired taste and alcohol level. FMBs are marketed in traditional beer bottles, and have an alcohol content of 4% to 6% by volume, similar to other beers. Marketers introduced citrus-flavored FMBs, including â€Å"hard† lemonades in the late 1990 s.10 More recently, brewers have entered into agreements with distillers to introduce spirits-branded FMBs that typically taste like a combination of light beer and citrus or other fruit.11 Other FMBs have flavors similar to wine coolers or cocktails