Aristotle's Theory of Civic Friendship and its Political-Philosophical Implications

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This paper attempts to make clear what Aristotle has in mind as civic friendship through the concepts of 'sharing' and 'reciprocity': in Aristotle's view, pace Cooper's interpretation that civic friendship is formed through 'goodwill', citizens need to be aware of mutual liking, and promote each other's well-being in a reciprocal way. Civic friendship is thus one kind of friendship which citizens develop when they are concerned with each other's benefits mainly through political authority or public service. Unlike Annas, who does not identify the essential characteristic of civic friendship, the present paper points out that Aristotle defines civic friendship as the reciprocal relationship of governing and being governed in turn for the sake of other people's benefits.Furthermore, the paper addresses the problem of why Aristotle repeatedly draws attention to the significance of friendship for politics, and does not exclude the possibility that 'virtue friendship' is developed among citizens, although he generally regards civic friendship as one kind of 'advantage friendship' in his ethical treatises. Concerning this problem, the paper maintains that friendship is a mark of the social environment in which citizens know each other's personality so that they can manage public affairs well. In addition, the reciprocal relationship of governing and being governed in turn through friendship makes it possible for citizens to cultivate their virtue, because citizens need to know how to govern a polis through their experiences of being governed. The paper therefore concludes that the idea of civic friendship plays an important role in Aristotle's ideas of how to govern a polis and educate citizens in the Politics.
日本哲学会の論文

Aristotle's Theory of Civic Friendship and its Political-Philosophical Implications

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日本哲学会 | 論文

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