In NE 8.2, Aristotle claims that friendship involves mutual wishing of good things for the other person’s sake. And yet no later than NE 8.3, he seems to deny that such wishing of good things (i.e., for the other person’s sake) is possible outside of the ideal kind of friendship which is based on virtue. Explain the problem and its consequences for our understanding of Aristotle’s conception of friendship. Sketch and evaluate two possible solutions.

Aristotle defines friendship as goodwill towards each other, this means that there is existence of reciprocation. We want to see our friends successful in their goals and they wish us the same (friendship is mutual well-wishing out of concern for one another). We have goodwill towards some great musicians, sportsmen, great scholars and great politicians among others, but we cannot call them friends because according to Aristotle in friendship there should be reciprocation. There must be awareness of mutual goodwill and this good will is caused by some perceived good in one another, this implies that if you do not see anything good in them you cannot be friends with them. Aristotle gives some characteristics of friendship which include: wishing each other well, promotion of friendship by action, wishes the other’s existence, shares joys and sorrows, etc.. Here Aristotle tries to expose the three different types of friendship. In 8.2 Aristotle says that friends wish well for each other. Then in 8.3 he goes over three types of friendship, friendship for pleasure, friendship for utility, and true friendship. Between 8.1-8.3 he does seem to contradict himself. But the key is that he says in each case of friendship one wishes well to the other "in that respect in which they love one another." What this means is that in the case of utility and pleasure this wishing well is superficial, so superficial you could even say it is not a true wishing well of the other at all. In a friendship of utility I only wish well to the other person if that wish being granted is compatible with them still be useful to me. Similarly, in the friendship of pleasure I only wish well to the other person if the wish being granted is compatible with them still bringing me pleasure. In this way, in these two more superficial modes friendships it is the case that I do, in one sense, wish good things for the other person's sake; but I also do not, in the sense that that wish is conditional on me getting something out of it. I gather that in true friendship the two people involved do genuinely wish each other well, in all situations. According to Cooper (318), “what gives a friendship its character as a friend of a particular kind is the state of mind of partners – their interaction toward and their conceptions of one another”.

Friendships begin with ‘mutual wishing of goodwill’ between persons, yet it is more than just simply a wishing of good things for another person or an impartial love towards humanity. Friendship requires recognition and reciprocity by another and suitable context for persons to express their affections for one another through concrete behavior (1156a5). For those who wish goodwill only we refer to them as eunoia and those who reciprocate the good will results into friendship (philia). In our day today society there are many people having goodwill towards people they have never met or seen and they too might return a feeling of goodwill, we cannot call these people friends because our aforementioned reasons are not existing. Friendship is more than just loving humanity. Friendship involves commitment of time and a trusting relationship. Aristotle says, “One cannot extend friendship to or be a friend of another person until each partner has impressed the other that he is worthy of affection,” Aristotle warns, “and until each has won the other’s confidence. Those who are quick to show the signs of friendship to one another are not really friends, though they wish to be; they are not true friends unless they are worthy of affection and know this to be so. The wish to be friends can come about quickly, but friendship cannot” (1156b). This obviously involves a good amount of time and effort. Due to time limitation and effort needed to be put into relationships makes it difficult to have strong/virtuous relationship. Aristotle asserts, “To be friends with many people in the sense of perfect friendship is impossible, just as it is impossible to be in love with many people at the same time” (1158a). Aristotle further says that many true friends are impossible “living together is the surest indication of friendship; and it is quite obvious that is it impossible to live together with many people and divide oneself up among them. Furthermore, one’s friends should also be the friends of one another, if they are all going to spend their days in each other’s company; but it is an arduous task to have this be the case among a large number of people” (1171a). This to a certain extent can confirm how difficult it is to have virtue in friendship. Michael Pakaluk (2005:270-1) observed, “Aristotle’s conclusion is that only friendship that involves reciprocated love based on the virtues of another is a friendship in the proper sense of th