When we approach the notion of friendship,
our first problem is there is a lack of socially acknowledged criteria for what makes a person
a friend. In one setting, we may describe someone as a friend; in another,
the label may seem less appropriate. Therefore, people tend to have a very thin understanding
of what friendship really means. To help us understand what friendship really means, we need
to review some classical views of friendship.
One classical view of friendship; is provided by Aristotle, the famous ancient
Greek philosopher .Aristotle distinguishes between what he believe to be genuine
friendships and two other forms: one based on mutual usefulness, the other on pleasure. So,
according to Aristotle , we may find three kinds of friendships .
Friendship based on utility .Utility is an impermanent thing : it change according
to circumstances .When the ground for friendship disappears, the friendship also break up
. Friendships of this kind seem to occur most frequently between the elderly,
because at their age what they want is not pleasure but utility
.Friendships based on utility are also frequently found among those in middle or early life who
are pursuing their own advantage. Such persons do not spend much time together
, because sometimes they do not even like one another, and therefore feel no need of such an
association unless they are mutually useful. They take pleasure in each other’s company only
in so far as they have hopes of advantage from it