Aquinas on Friendship

by Schwartz, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9780199645299
• ISBN10: 0199645299
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-21
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Daniel Schwartz examines the views on friendship of the great medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas. For Aquinas friendship is the ideal type of relationship that rational beings should cultivate. Schwartz argues that Aquinas fundamentally revises some of the main features of Aristotle's paradigmatic account of friendship so as to accommodate the case of friendship between radically unequal beings: man and God. As a result, Aquinas presents a broader view of friendship thanAristotle's, allowing for a higher extent of disagreement. lack of mutual understanding, and inequality between friends.

Author Biography

Daniel Schwartz is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science and the Department of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations and Conventions	p. xv
Larger Themes	p. 1
Friendship and Amicitia	p. 1
The Importance of Friends	p. 3
Acts of Friendship	p. 6
What Concord Requires	p. 22
'Concord is a Union of Wills, Not of Opinions'	p. 22
Disagreement and Friendship	p. 31
Why Conflicting Beliefs Alone Do Not Create Discord: A Look at Heresy	p. 34
Conclusion	p. 41
Friendship and Conformity of Wills	p. 42
Background	p. 43
Conformity of Wills and the Friend's Reasons	p. 46
Conformity of Wills and Disparity of Circumstances	p. 57
Ways of Willing the Same	p. 61
Political Implications of Aquinas's Position on the Conformity of Wills of Friendship	p. 66
What Prevents Us from Joining Other People's Projects?: Pride as an Impediment to Conformity of Wills	p. 69
Nilling What Another Wills: Schism, Sedition, and Discord	p. 70
Vainglory and Unwillingness to Agree with Others	p. 72
Pride and Unwillingness to Agree with Others	p. 74
Conformity of Wills Revisited	p. 87
The Law as a Cure for Pride	p. 88
Human Institutions and Pride	p. 90
Summary	p. 92
Friendship and Uncertainty: Presumptions and Hope	p. 94
Present Friendship and the Presumption of Authenticity	p. 95
Hope and Future Friendship	p. 107
Conclusion	p. 121
Friendship and Recourse to Justice	p. 123
Justice between Friends	p. 124
Friendship as a Condition of Just Exchange	p. 133
Summary	p. 139
Justice, Satisfaction, and Restoration of Friendship	p. 142
Satisfaction and Friendship	p. 143
Friendship and Quantitative Satisfaction	p. 151
Summary	p. 160
Concluding Remarks	p. 162
Appendix: The Duality of the Rational Volition in Christ's Human Nature and Friendship with God	p. 165
Bibliography	p. 167
Index Locorum	p. 175
Index of Subjects	p. 182
Index of Names and Places	p. 187
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