Type 3: Perfect Friendship

Aristotle says:

 "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....and it is those who desire the good of friends for the friends sake that are most truly friends because each loves the other for what he is and not for any other reason"

So these friendships last as long as both remain good. 

The reason why good people are friends with other good people? They both express the same good behaviors each of them admires.

Generally, once a person becomes good they remain that way; hence, if two good people meet, it's expected they'll form a lifelong friendship and it's unlikely that such a friendship would ever dissolve like the capricious friendships of pleasure and utility.

The catch is that these friendships are so rare, some truly good people may never experience it in a lifetime as Cicero once mentioned.

How many of these friends do you have?  How many of your friends are truly happy when good things happen to you? Conversely,  you should ask yourself if you're sincerely happy when good things happen to your friends.

Type 2: Friends in Pleasure

There are fewer of these friendships in our lives. 

These are the friends we have in which we share various kinds of pleasure. It is  the people we play golf with, drink at the pub with or sometimes have sex with.

Again, in some cases, we may not even like being around these people beyond the pleasurable activity. How about those drinking buddies at the pub or some teammates on your sports team?

Since our pleasures change based on life's circumstances, these friendships only last as long as both parties enjoy the pleasurable activity and once one party no longer finds pleasure in the activity - that's it - the friendship starts to fade and each goes their separate way.
 
If both knew it was a friendship based on pleasure,  the separation is amicable; however, if one party thought the friendship went beyond pleasure,  things usually get emotional and animosity results.

Ask yourself if you or another in your life experienced this kind of relationship turmoil due to a misunderstood friendship type.

How many people in your life fall into this category?

Is it true that you drifted apart from someone, once interest waned in the common pleasure you shared?



Stay tuned for the third and highest form of friendship.  This is the kind Cicero said was very rare and that few people get to experience even once in their life. It is also a friendship that only good men and women can possess while  bad individuals are excluded from it.

The Three Kinds of Friends

There are only three kinds of friendship. Ask yourself if you recognize these in your life. Feel free to tally them up and let readers know in the comment section below how many fit into each category.

Type 1: Friends of Utility

These are the people we interact with most often where we both get some kind of mutual benefit from our relationship (Some Facebookers, coworkers, clients, neighbours, etc) . In some cases we may not even like these people but they are strangely still considered friends. The bulk of our friendships exist in this class. 

Since mutual benefits change based on life's circumstances, these friendships only last so long as mutual benefit exist and once one party no longer benefits - that's it - the friendship ends and each goes their separate ways.

These friends take pleasure in each other's company only in so far as they have hopes of advantage from it.
 
If you both knew it was a friendship of utility the separation is amicable; however, if one party thought the friendship went beyond utility things usually get emotional and animosity results.

Ask yourself if you or another in your life experienced this kind of friendship strife due to a misunderstood friendship type.

Stay tuned for the second and slightly deeper type of friendship.

Politicians, the experts in happiness?

On 1094b Aristotle makes a case for politics being the science responsible for studying the supreme good. Do you think that his definition of politics is different from present day? Why?

He says political science should determine what is taught in schools? Do you think this wise? Is it currently being done with an eye to the ultimate good or happiness? 

One could argue that if the supreme good is happiness, should not those with political power be experts in the best way to achieve this ultimate good. Should these political expert in the absolute good not guide all other sciences to ensure they aim at achieving absolute good. Aristotle suggests that the good or happiness of the community is more important than the happiness and good of the individual. Agree, disagree? 

Could both the community and the individual have the same goal of happiness and absolute good if everyone were instructed through philosophy in what the true and reasonable good is?

If there is an absolute good would it not be the same for both individual and community? 

If this was true would not society achieve the greatest happiness and harmony? 

What is the problem with our current systems that prevent us from attaining this harmony in society? 

How can things be improved so that we all move toward real happiness and not the shadow of happiness that most embrace? 

Are there any countries on earth that are getting close to this kind of harmony?

Aiming at the End or a Good?

Book 1 - 1094a to 1094b

Aristotle says:

"Every rational activity aims at some end or good. One end/activity may be subordinated to another.

Do you agree? Is it better to ensure that all your subordinated activities that lead to an ultimate good, be just and good in themselves? Why or why not?

Practical application of this knowledge:

Here is an exercise. Write down one of your daily activities and then work backward to determine the ultimate reason why you do it. For example if you exercise every day. Ask why? To stay in shape, look healthy and socialize? Here you can go in three different directions so you pick "to stay in shape".  Why stay in shape? It gives you more energy, prevents injuries, releases natural endorphins, gives you more confidence in your abilities, etc. Now you pick “more energy”. Why desire  more energy? To be able to accomplish more like interacting with your family and children leading to happiness, the end good. 

Note that when you do the above analysis on your selected activity,  is it not happiness that lies at the end of your analysis? Is not happiness the most important good in all our goods that we seek since it is the main reason we do anything? Please enter your results from your own version of the above exercise and comment, we would love to see what you come up with.

Do this for all your daily activities to see which ones lead to happiness and for the ones that do not lead to happiness perhaps you should stop doing those activities.

Introduction:

The Nicomachean Ethics is Aristotle`s best known book on ethics.The work consists of ten books based on notes from his lectures at the Lyceum.

The theme of the book is a guide on how men and women can become and remain good and hence live the best life. The learning's are practical and can be used in our everyday lives.

Please pick up a copy of the Nicomachean Ethics and follow along with this blog, please make comments, post questions and add your thoughts so that everyone can benefit from a wide rage of perspectives and continue living the good life.

For some basic background on the book see attached link.Wikipedia Nicomachean Ethics

"The wise person will be happy in the highest degree"

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1779a30