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''Friendship towards oneself'' in the Eudemian Ethics

• Μπενετάτος, Σπύρος

In Book IX of the Nicomachean Ethics love exhibited by the good man towards himself is presented as the model of friendship. Scholars usually ascribe a similar conception to the Eudemian essay on friendship (Eudemian Ethics VII). In the present paper I undertake a detailed comparison of the relevant texts (EN IX. 4 & EE VII.6) and I argue that the Eudemian Aristotle adopts a radically opposite position: he refutes the good man’s self-love as a model of friendship on the ground that it lacks an essential feature of friendship: self-love points to the unity of agency, whereas friendship requires the separateness of the agents involved. I further claim that “friendship towards oneself” is based on the Platonic model of friendship in the Republic and, thus, the Eudemian argument should be seen as an attack against Plato’s concept of friendship in terms of a unified agency

• Philosophy, Ethics and Religion

• Κοινωνικές επιστήμες
• Φιλοσοφία, Αρχαία

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