TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE……………………………………………………………i
CERTIFICATION………………………………………………ii
DEDICATION………………………………………………….iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………….iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………….vi
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 GENERAL INTRODUCTION………………………..…….1
1.1 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY…………………………….….2
1.2
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS………………………3
1.3
METHODOLOGY………………………………………….4
1.4
SCOPE OF WORK………………………………………….4
1.5
DIVISION OF WORK………………………………………5
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………6
2.1 PLATO………..……………………………………………..6
2.2 CICERO……………………………………………….………..8
2.3 THOMAS AQUINAS…………………………….…………….9
2.4 FRANCIS BACON…………………………………………….10
2.5 IMMANUEL KANT…………………………………….……..11
2.6 GABRIEL MARCEL…………………………………….…….12
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 COMPARATIVE DISCOURSE…………………………….….14
3.1 ARISTOTLE AND HIS CONCEPTION OF FRIENDSHIP.….14
3.1.1 TYPES OF FRIENDSHIP……………………………………17
3.1.1.1 UTILITY FRIENDSHIP……………………………………18
3.1.1.2 PLEASURE FRIENDSHIP………………………………...20
3.1.1.3 PERFECT FRIENDSHIP……………………………….….22
3.2 MODERN DAY CONCEPTION OF FRIENDSHIP…………..24
3.2.1 FRIENDSHIP AMONG ELDERS…………………………...25
3.2.1 FRIENDSHIP AMONG
YOUTHS………………………....28
3.3 SIMILARITIES BETWEEN ARISTOTLE’S
CONCEPTION AND MODERN DAY CONCEPTION OF FRIENDSHIP ……….. 35
3.4 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO
CONCEPTIONS ….37
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 THE BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS OF FRIENDSHIP …….40
4.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP …………….40
4.2 THE PROBLEMS OF FRIENDSHIP…………………..46
4.3
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS OF
FRIENDSHIP……………………………………….52
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION…………………………….55
5.1 EVALUATION……………………………………………………..55
5.2 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………….59
BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………..62
CHAPTER ONE
1.0
GENERAL
INTRODUCTION
Quite a number of things are fanciful to human being;
wealth, prestige, power, good health and host of others. However, all these
things make more meaning only when shared with others. Therefore, friends are “sine
qua non” to human existence. It is on this ground that Aristotle would say,
“for man is a social being, and designed by nature to live with others”. Every human being needs the other to live a fulfilled
life. No man is an Island. No man can boast of living well in a place alone, he
needs the other person.
As regards friendship, there
are different conceptions as there are scholars who philosophize on that. Each
expresses his or her own notion of friendship. Though there are different
notions among scholars about friendship, most of the differences perhaps are as
a result of cultural differences and background.
It is an obvious fact that
not all types of friendship seek to the development of both the individual and
the entire society. This, I believe is the major fact why friendship as a term
has been misconstrued and misconceived. Sequel to this, some regard friendship
as a thing to be avoided because of the negative connotations that often go
with it.
1.1
PURPOSE OF
THE STUDY.
Over the years, people (including philosophers) have
looked at the concept of friendship from various perspectives. Such people
include Plato, Cicero, Epicureans, Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, Aristotle,
etc., each of these philosophers has his view of friendship.
However, the purpose of this work is to discuss how
modern day people understand friendship using Aristotle’s conception of
friendship as a paradigm. This work will investigate why people make friends.
In the same vein, it has as its purpose to find out whether friendship is intrinsically
good or bad.
1.2
STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM.
In spite of the fact that friendship is a “sine qua
non” to human existence, it has over the years passed through different
hardships. Even the early Greeks and Romans were victims of this. Thus
Aristotle laments over the failure of friendship with, “O my friend, there is
no friend”. Empedocles on his side,
contrasts friendship with strife. This motivated Aristotle to exalt friendship
in his ‘Nicomacheaan Ethics’.
The Stoics and Cynics place friendship upon the most
complete “abundance” and generosity of spirit. For the Christian writers,
friendship is synonymous with love. This love must be grounded in God and thus
spurs one to channel the same love to another person.
On the other hand, the decline of friendship to its
lowest level came in the modern day. Among the modern people, there is too much
exultation of romantic love as friendship. Others see friendship as a business
where one sees profit making as the primary aim.
With this in mind, friendship, like a rolling stone
that carries a lot of dust, carries to itself many negative connotations. This
makes people to regard friendship as something to be avoided. They see it as
something that is intrinsically bad.
1.3
METHOD OF
RESEARCH.
The method applied in this research is mainly
expository. It is expository because it shows in great detail what friendship
was in the olden days. Also it exposes what is obtainable now as friendship
with its benefits, problems and possible solutions.
1.4
SCOPE OF
THE WORK.
Since time immemorial, one of the problems of human
beings is how to relate well with people around him. There is an innate derive in human beings that
pulls them together. Each of them has his or her unique way of behaviour. But
the problem remains, how can people of different behaviour, culture, belief,
etc., relate? It is to tackle this problem that motivated several scholars and
leaders of thought to have various speculations on friendship. Among these
scholars is a Greek philosopher, Aristotle.
Aristotle’s conception of friendship seems to be more
famous than that of other philosophers. Therefore, the limitation of this work
will be on how the modern people conceive friendship, bearing Aristotle’s
conception in mind. This is whether or not the modern day conception of
friendship is in line with that of Aristotle.
1.5
DIVISION OF
WORK
This work is divided into five chapters for easy
grasping. Chapter one is the general introduction, purpose of study, statement
of problem, method of research, scope of the work and division of work. In
chapter two, the researcher gives an overview of some philosophers’ view on
friendship. Chapter three is the heart of the work. It treats both the
Aristotelian conception and modern day conception of friendship. Chapter four
handles the importance of friendship, the problems of friendship and possible
solution to the problems of friendship. Finally, chapter five sums up the
research by evaluating and summarizing the whole work.
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