In Book VIII of Nicomachen Ethics by Aristotle, he describes friendship as necessary and splendid, then goes on to break down friendship into three categories. One is a friendship based on utility, both sides gain some benefit. The second is one of pleasure, both are attracted to some quality of the other. Lastly is the friendship of goodness, people admire the other’s goodness and help each other struggle for more. My friends fit into all three.
Over this past week I have been constantly analyzing my online gaming friendships with the sole purpose of how to explain them. The more I dug into the subject and try to put things into nice tidy categories the more complex and confusing it got. It is like trying to determine the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow. One of my best friends, Atoe I will call him, or as he is more commonly known, “The banana man”, would remind me about shades of grey and that things just don’t fit into set categories. Then he would call me a muppet or slacker or even a doodle and ten seconds later we would be deep into some discussion about gun control or the effects of killing Tauntauns on the planet Hoth. About this time Anni, or as we call her “The Nun”, would chime in and insult both of us then proceed to tell us about how much she loves poodles. This was my dilemma, how can I categorize a group of people that have the attention span of a gold fish? My friends and I can shift from one topic to another in an instant while tossing derogatory terms all the while. We slash and fence using words instead of foils, though occasionally we deploy claymores. The flash of inspiration was instant, we are friends and this picture sums it up nicely. We disagree, fuss, argue and constantly insult each other but will go out of our way to help one another and there is always respect. To me this shows the values of friendship and an emotional connection. Friends help each other, it doesn’t matter what team you’re on. This also shows me a deeply rooted core value of friendship ethics.
In Book VIII of Nicomachen Ethics by Aristotle, he describes friendship as necessary and splendid, then goes on to break down friendship into three categories. One is a friendship based on utility, both sides gain some benefit. The second is one of pleasure, both are attracted to some quality of the other. Lastly is the friendship of goodness, people admire the other’s goodness and help each other struggle for more. My friends fit into all three.
2 Comments
Anni the awsome
9/27/2015 09:06:16
WTF!!
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JD
9/28/2015 14:36:31
Anni you are indeed wonderful and predictable. Now if only some more of the gang would comment as well hahahaha. TY for taking the time, it does mean a lot.
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