Aquinas on Friendship [Paperback]

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.

1. Aquinas on friendship: larger themes
2. What concord requires
3. Friendship and conformity of wills
4. What prevents us from joining other people's projects: pride as an impediment to conformity of wills
5. Friendship and uncertainty: presumptions and hope
6. Friendship and recourse to justice
7. Justice, satisfaction, and restoration of friendship
8. Concluding Remarks

Daniel Schwartzis Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science and the Department of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.