Aristotle's Views On True Friendship

In Claire’s situation, Aristotle would claim that she should try to convince Tony to tell Beth about the affair on the grounds of being a good friend towards Tony and Beth. Aristotle argues that trust is very important in friendships and that it is the characteristic of a true friendship. He states “The friendship of the good too and this alone is proof against slander; for it is not easy to trust any one talk about a man who has long been tested by oneself; and it is among good men that trust and the feeling that 'he would never wrong me ' and all the other things that are demanded in true friendship are found.” In other words, not only would Tony and Beth’s relationship fail because she would be unable to trust Tony, but her friendship with Claire would fail too because she would be unable to trust Claire because she knew about the affair also but did not speak up. Not only that, but Claire would not be a good friend to Tony if she allowed him to jeopardize his moral virtue by not telling Beth the truth. Aristotle thought that true happiness derived from moral virtue and that true …show more content…
Aristotle argued that true friendship can be achieved when people spend time together and live together. Nevertheless, Beth was spending less time with Tony, making him feel lonely. Aristotle said, “Those, however, who approve of each other but do not live together seem to be well-disposed rather than actual friends. For there is nothing so characteristic of friends as living together (since while it people who are in need that desire benefits, even those who are supremely happy desire to spend their days together; for solitude suits such people least of all);” Aristotle argued that even though two people are friends, if they do not spend time together, their friendship weakens because no one likes being