Before reading Aristotle’s beliefs about friendship, I had believed that the only people I considered friends were those that Aristotle considers friends of virtue and all others were acquaintances. While I’m still acclimating to this new nomenclature, listing my friends and classifying them was a somewhat cathartic experience. After compiling my catalog of friends, I immediately noticed that I have numerous more friends than I had anticipated. Once the initial boost in self-pride subsided, I realized that many of these so-called friends were mere friends of use. Essentially, they were people I interacted with somewhat frequently and had cultivated a symbiotic relationship with. Aristotle’s emphasis that there is nothing to be ashamed
