The Philosophy of Friendship

by Vernon, Mark

• ISBN13: 9781403948748
• ISBN10: 1403948747
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-11-29
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Mark Vernon links the resources of the philosophical tradition with numerous illustrations from modern culture to ask what friendship is and how it relates to sex, work, politics and spirituality. Unusually, he argues that Plato and Nietzsche, as much as Aristotle and Aelred, should be put center stage. Their penetrating and occasionally tough insights are invaluable if friendship is to be a full, not merely sentimental, way of life for today.

Author Biography

Mark Vernon is a freelance journalist, media consultant and broadcaster.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction: the Ambiguity of Friendship	1	(10)
1. Friends at Work	11	(18)
On being useful	12	(2)
On not being used	14	(2)
On winning friends, not merely influencing people	16	(3)
The ultimate test: befriending bosses	19	(3)
The social dimension: commercial culture and the challenge to friendship	22	(2)
Realpolitik	24	(2)
Utility spreads	26	(3)
2. Friends and Lovers	29	(21)
Sex and friendship	31	(2)
Similarities and difference	33	(2)
Immortal longings: a theory of love and friendship	35	(4)
Platonic friendship	39	(2)
Practicalities	41	(3)
Better than sex?	44	(4)
Getting with friends	48	(2)
3. Faking It	50	(22)
Truth hurts	55	(4)
Another self	59	(4)
Other ways of honesty?	63	(3)
Solitude	66	(2)
Ending friendship	68	(4)
4. Unconditional Love	72	(21)
From loss of faith to rejection	75	(4)
Christian secularism	79	(2)
In ethical no-man's-land	81	(3)
Reaffirming friendship	84	(4)
Against atomism and absolutes	88	(3)
Trust in friendship	91	(2)
5. Civic Friendship	93	(26)
Tyrant slayers	96	(5)
Garden friendship	101	(1)
The end of an age	102	(5)
Public kisses	107	(5)
Sworn brothers	112	(2)
The piety of friendship	114	(5)
6. Politics of Friendship	119	(26)
Suffragette city	120	(4)
Political weight	124	(3)
Right relationship	127	(1)
What are gay men for?	128	(2)
Lads, blokes and metrosexuals	130	(3)
Queer lives	133	(4)
Sociological evidence	137	(2)
Friendship in other relationships	139	(1)
The return of trust and civic friendship?	140	(5)
7. The Spirituality of Friendship	145	(15)
Timing and exceptionality	147	(3)
Telling it slant	150	(2)
Mere friendship	152	(2)
'To do without it'	154	(6)
Conclusion: Philosophy and Friendship	160	(5)
Further Reading and References	165	(5)
Appendix: Plato and Aristotle on Friendship	170	(7)
Index	177