Friendship: A Philosophical Reader / Edition 1

by Neera Kapur Badhwar

Overview

Recent years have seen a marked revival of interest among philosophers in the topic of friendship. This collection of fifteen articles is the first to make some of the best recent work on friendship readily accessible.

The book is divided into three sections. The first centers on the nature of friendship, the difference between friendship and other personal loves, and the importance of friendship in the individual's life. The second section discusses the moral significance of friendship and the response of various ethical theories and theorists (Aristotelian, Christian, Kantian, and consequentialist) to the phenomenon of friendship. The last section deals with the importance of personal and civic friendship in a good society. Badhwar's introduction is a comprehensive critical discussion of the issues raised by the essays: it relates them to each other, as well as to historical and contemporary discussions not included in the anthology, thus providing the reader with an integrated overview of the essays and their place in the larger philosophical picture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801480973
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	04/22/1993
Series:	Cornell Paperbacks Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.94(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Neera Kapur Badhwar is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oklahoma.

Table of Contents

PrefaceIntroduction: The Nature and Significance of Friendship
by Neera Kapur BadhwarPART I. FRIENDSHIP: GENERAL DISCUSSIONS1. Friendship—The Least Necessary Love
by C. S. Lewis2. Friendship and Other Loves
by Laurence Thomas3. Love and Psychological Visibility
by Nathaniel Branden4. The Historicity of Psychological Attitudes: Love Is Not Love Which Alters Not When It Alteration Finds
by Amelie O. RortyPART II. FRIENDSHIP AND ETHICS5. Aristotle on the Shared Life
by Nancy Sherman6. The Problem of Total Devotion
by Robert M. Adams7. Kant on Friendship
by H. J. Paton8. Personal Love and Kantian Ethics in Effi Briest
by Julia Annas9. Was Effi Briest a Victim of Kantian Morality?
by Marcia Baron10. Friendship as a Moral Phenomenon
by Lawrence Blum11. Alienation, Consequentialism, and the Demands of Morality
by Peter Railton12. Values and Purposes: The Limits of Teleology and the Ends of Friendship
by Michael StockerPART III. FRIENDSHIP, SOCIETY, AND POLITICS13. Marital Slavery and Friendship: John Stuart Mill's The Subjection of Women
by Mary Lyndon Shanley14. Feminism and Modern Friendship: Dislocating the Community
by Marilyn Friedman15. Political Animals and Civic Friendship
by John M. CooperIndex

Editorial Reviews

A most welcome and timely presentation of significant contributions to this flourishing field of philosophical discourse. Badhwar's introduction is of special value in briefly outlining the history of philosophical speculation on friendship and suggesting more plausible reasons for the neglect of a theme in modern philosophy.

-- "Australasian Journal of Philosophy"

The anthology gathers a variety of essays--mostly by philosophers--grouped under three general rubrics: 1) the nature of friendship; 2) the attempts by different moral theories (Aristotelian, Christian, Kantian, consequentialist) to account for the experience of friendship; and 3) friendship as a means for exploring larger social and political issues.... All are worthwhile. Some, in particular, will repay careful study.

-- "Christian Century"

There is much excellent material here for seminar discussion, and the book will find a place in the ethics classroom as well as on the moral philosopher's bookshelf.

-- "Canadian Review of Comparative Literature"

From the Publisher

There is much excellent material here for seminar discussion, and the book will find a place in the ethics classroom as well as on the moral philosopher's bookshelf.

Canadian Review of Comparative Literature

A most welcome and timely presentation of significant contributions to this flourishing field of philosophical discourse. Badhwar's introduction is of special value in briefly outlining the history of philosophical speculation on friendship and suggesting more plausible reasons for the neglect of a theme in modern philosophy.

Australasian Journal of Philosophy

The anthology gathers a variety of essays—mostly by philosophers—grouped under three general rubrics: 1) the nature of friendship; 2) the attempts by different moral theories (Aristotelian, Christian, Kantian, consequentialist) to account for the experience of friendship; and 3) friendship as a means for exploring larger social and political issues.... All are worthwhile. Some, in particular, will repay careful study.

Christian Century