โ Scribed by Marilyn Friedman
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
What does friendship add to our moral lives? Virtue theorists and feminist philosophers are among those who have recently given a good deal of philosophical attention to the moral dimension of special relationships, including friendship. 1 This paper will extend those discussions in a new direction. In the first part, I will consider briefly how commitment to particular persons differs from commitment to abstract moral guidelines, such as principles and rules. Then, I will suggest, in Part 2, that commitments to persons, in particular to our friends, offer us important possibilities for moral growth and for transformation of the abstract moral guidelines to which we are committed. Finally, in Part 3, as a brief counterpoint, I will reflect on some of the risks involved in relying on our friends to inspire the sort of moral change discussed in the second part of this paper.
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