Friendship - (Wilder House Series in Politics, History, and Culture) by Neera Kapur Badhwar (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Recent years have seen a marked revival of interest among philosophers in the topic of friendship. This collection of fifteen articles is the first to make some of the best recent work on friendship readily accessible.

The book is divided into three sections. The first centers on the nature of friendship, the difference between friendship and other personal loves, and the importance of friendship in the individual's life. The second section discusses the moral significance of friendship and the response of various ethical theories and theorists (Aristotelian, Christian, Kantian, and consequentialist) to the phenomenon of friendship. The last section deals with the importance of personal and civic friendship in a good society. Badhwar's introduction is a comprehensive critical discussion of the issues raised by the essays: it relates them to each other, as well as to historical and contemporary discussions not included in the anthology, thus providing the reader with an integrated overview of the essays and their place in the larger philosophical picture.

Review Quotes

A most welcome and timely presentation of significant contributions to this flourishing field of philosophical discourse. Badhwar's introduction is of special value in briefly outlining the history of philosophical speculation on friendship and suggesting more plausible reasons for the neglect of a theme in modern philosophy.

The anthology gathers a variety of essays--mostly by philosophers--grouped under three general rubrics: 1) the nature of friendship; 2) the attempts by different moral theories (Aristotelian, Christian, Kantian, consequentialist) to account for the experience of friendship; and 3) friendship as a means for exploring larger social and political issues.... All are worthwhile. Some, in particular, will repay careful study.

There is much excellent material here for seminar discussion, and the book will find a place in the ethics classroom as well as on the moral philosopher's bookshelf.

About the Author

Neera Kapur Badhwar is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oklahoma.