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Contribution to Book
Friendship in Kallipolis
Thinking About Friendship: Historical and Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives
  • Damian Caluori, Trinity University
Document Type
Contribution to Book
Publication Date
1-1-2013
Abstract

That friends form some sort of unity is one of the remarkable facts about friendship. We identify with our friends in a way in which we do not identify with non-friends. This identification forms the foundation for the distinction that we make between friends and non-friends. Many other facts about friendship are grounded in it - such as the fact that we are willing to help friends in a way that goes beyond what is otherwise demanded by morality or custom. When our friends need someone to help them move to a new apartment, for example, we will help them without demanding anything in return; we would be rather reluctant to do the same for a stranger. So it is important to ask what sort of unity friendship possesses. In what follows, I shall argue that we find an interesting conception of this unity in Plato.

Editor
Damian Caluori
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN
9781137003980
Citation Information
Caluori, D. (2013). Friendship in Kallipolis. In D. Caluori (Ed.), Thinking about friendship: Historical and contemporary philosophical perspectives (pp. 47-64). Palgrave Macmillan.