Aristotle and the philosophy of friendship /

Pangle (Univ. of Toronto) closely examines books VIII and IX of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and also devotes significant attention to other treatments of friendship, including those of Plato, Cicero, and Montaigne. Although the Ethics's books explicitly paint an enticing picture of the nobility of friendship, benevolence, and virtue for an audience of statesmen, Pangle argues that Aristotle's real aim is to show the "troubling incoherences at the root of all ordinary friendships." Those acute readers who reflect on the "tensions" implicit in Aristotle's account (and in actually having friends) will recognize the need to set aside friendships to pursue a solitary, philosophical life. What these readers learn, she claims, is that not virtue's nobility but natural "needs and wants give substance to the best life" and that intelligence is merely knowing how best to meet them. Other aspects of Aristotle's "teaching" are also strangely materialistic: benevolence stems from desire, and friendship enhances experience. Pangle is more open than other Straussians about what Aristotle's hidden philosophy is; she argues that it explains textual anomalies and is "true to experience." Despite some good discussions of textual problems, she develops solutions that are highly implausible as either Aristotelian doctrine or truths about friendship. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. E. Halper University of Georgia