On friendship
By: Alexander Nehamas
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 293
ISBN-13: 9780465082926
Subjects: Friendship
Description: Offers a philosophical account of the phenomenon of friendship, looking at its value in living a good life, some of the potential pitfalls and moral difficulties associated with it, and how our friends profoundly affect who we are.

"Friends are a constant feature of our lives, yet friendship itself is difficult to define. Even Michel de Montaigne, author of the seminal essay "Of Friendship," found it nearly impossible to account for the great friendship of his life. Why is something so commonplace and universal so hard to grasp? What is it about the nature of friendship that proves so elusive? In On Friendship, the acclaimed philosopher Alexander Nehamas launches an original and far-ranging investigation of friendship. Exploring the long history of philosophical thinking on the subject, from Aristotle to Emerson and beyond, and drawing on examples from literature, art, drama, and his own life, Nehamas shows that for centuries, friendship was as much a public relationship as it was a private one--inseparable from politics and commerce, favors and perks. Now that it is more firmly in the private realm, Nehamas holds, close friendship is central to the good life. Profound and affecting, On Friendship sheds light on why we love our friends--and how they determine who we are, and who we might become." -- Publisher's description
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: "A friend is another self": Aristotelian foundations; title: "A sort of secession": the emergence of modern friendship; title: A structure of the soul: friendship and the arts; title: "And so on": why do we love our friends?; title: "No sense of humor": a friendship breaks down; title: The good of friendship.