Aquinas on Friendship

Daniel Schwartz examines the thoughts of the great medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas on the subject of friendship--the ideal type of relationship that rational beings should cultivate. He uses illuminating examples from human relationships and politics to highlight the contemporary relevance of the ideas of this great thinker.

---

Daniel Schwartz examines the views on friendship of the great medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas. For Aquinas friendship is the ideal type of relationship that rational beings should cultivate. Schwartz argues that Aquinas fundamentally revises some of the main features of Aristotle's paradigmatic account of friendship so as to accommodate the case of friendship between radically unequal beings: man and God. As a result, Aquinas presents a broader view of friendship than Aristotle's, allowing for a higher extent of disagreement. lack of mutual understanding, and inequality between friends.