Love, Day #4, December 22, 2011
Philia (Friendship)
Today I’m going to talk about another type of love. It is known as one of the four ancient Greek words of love, philia. In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, it is usually translated as 'friendship', though in fact his use of the term is much broader. Friendship is one of the most important relationships. A friend is someone who is there for you always, someone who knows you and understands you, someone who deeply cares for you. Even though you just see some of your friends occasionally, they’re still a friend. He/she still loves you. I want to share you this information that I just had found out, I think this will educate all of us.
In philia, Aristotle divides it into three based on the motives of forming them: friendships of utility, friendships of pleasure and friendships of the good.
Friendships of utility are relationships formed without regard to the other person at all. Buying merchandise, for example, may require meeting another person but usually needs only a very shallow relationship between the buyer and seller. In modern English, people in such a relationship would not even be called friends, but acquaintances (if they even remembered each other afterwards). The only reason these people are communicating is in order to buy or sell things, which is not a bad thing, but as soon as that motivation is gone, so goes the relationship between the two people unless another motivation is found. Complaints and quarrels generally only arise in this type of friendship.
At the next level, friendships of pleasure are based on pure delight in the company of other people. People who drink together or share a hobby may have such friendships. However, these friends may also part—in this case if they no longer enjoy the shared activity, or can no longer participate in it together.
Friendships of the good are ones where both friends enjoy each other's characters. As long as both friends keep similar characters, the relationship will endure since the motive behind it is care for the friend. This is the highest level of philia, and in modern English might be called true friendship.
Interesting right? Well my opinion about this is simple, put love on every aspect of these friendships. Imagine the world if we have this nature in ourselves to love and care for people. I bet that everything in life will be more meaningful if this is the mindset of everyone. Take a look at this video and see a glimpse of it.
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