# Book VIII: Friendship or Love explained — Nicomachean Ethics

> Chapter companion for Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle.

## What happens

Aristotle introduces friendship as a virtue or something that implies virtue, essential for life at all ages and in all circumstances. He explores the nature of the lovable (good, pleasant, useful), distinguishes between friendships of utility, pleasure, and virtue, and examines friendships based on equality and inequality (e.g., parent-child, ruler-subject). He also connects friendship to political constitutions, arguing that friendship holds states together and that justice and friendship are closely linked.

## Themes in this chapter

### Friendship and Community

Central theme: friendship as a virtue, necessary for life, and the bond that holds states together.

### Justice and Fairness

Explored in relation to friendship: justice and friendship are closely linked, and friendship can even supersede the need for justice.

### Politics and the Individual

Friendship is compared to different political constitutions, showing how political structures influence the types of friendship possible.

## Character check-ins

### Aristotle

Primary author and philosopher presenting the analysis of friendship.

### Homer

Quoted regarding the idea that friends working together are more efficient ('two together').

### Euripides

Quoted for the view that opposites attract, using the example of earth and heaven.

### Heraclitus

Cited for the idea that opposites fit together and that harmony comes from discord.

### Empedocles

Mentioned as holding the opposite view that like desires like.

## Key lines

> For no one would care to live without friends, though he had all other good things.

No one would choose to live without friends, even if they possessed every other good.

_Aristotle emphasizes the indispensability of friendship for a fulfilling life._

> If citizens be friends, they have no need of justice, but though they be just, they need friendship or love also; indeed, the completest realization of justice seems to be the realization of friendship or love also.

If citizens are friends, justice becomes unnecessary; yet even if they are just, they still require friendship, since the fullest expression of justice is also an expression of friendship.

_Aristotle argues that friendship and justice are deeply interconnected, with friendship representing the highest form of justice._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/book-viii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters