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Friendship and Virtue in Practice |
Easycgi Discount
| Aristotle argued that?an?important element in developing?virtue is that in order to be virtuous one needs virtuous friends.The basic premise is that in order to practice virtue one needs virtuous people to practice it on and with.There are a few ways of explaining this further, but let's stick to something simple - and for our purposes, we'll talk about runners.Imagine two runners that compete against one another.They both run the same track every day and attempt to out-do one another. |
| They both run the same track every day and attempt to out-do one another.In this way, they both become better runners by challenging eachother.They are, in fact, practicing a form of virtue-friendship.?By doing their very best they?develop greater fitness and virtue in?one another.This would seem to fit our intuitions about what it means to be a friend, and what friends do for us.?If you are christian, then you probably associate yourself with other christians in fellowship, and thereby develop christian virtues.If you are an atheist, then you probably?associate?yourself with rationalists, and thereby develop secular virtues.?? |
| If you are an atheist, then you probably?associate?yourself with rationalists, and thereby develop secular virtues.??And now here's something to think about
Suppose that while the two friends are running on the track, a bear rushes out of the woods and gives chase [the bear, in fact, will catch one of the runners; the slower one].Now keep in mind that on Aristotle's account of virtue, the virtuous friend is one that does their very best - to out run the other
So the question(s)
Does the virtuous friend slow down and let the bear eat him instead of the other?Or does the virtuous friend do his very best to out run the other? |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 July 2008 )
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