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Philosophy Workshop: Aristotle on Friendship
December 4 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
What We’ll Explore
The virtue of friendship was highly valued in ancient Greek philosophy, from the early Pythagorean fellowships, through nearly every major philosophical school and tradition, down to the final synthesis of these various schools in the Athenian Academy, more than 1,000 years after Pythagoras. In between, Aristotle devotes two out of the ten books of his Nicomachean Ethics entirely to the topic of friendship — far more space than he gives to any of the other virtues.
In this evening’s program, we’ll explore some of the core concepts in Aristotle’s account of friendship. We’ll consider the various goals toward which friendship might be directed, the need for true friends to be of good ethical character, and the conditions under which friendship can flourish.
Finally, we’ll follow Aristotle in asking whether friendship can arise only among equals, or whether it’s possible for people of very different status to be friends as well. Can a parent truly be a friend to her child, a teacher to his students, or a ruler to her subjects? Rather than a mere all-or-nothing account, we’ll be able to consider the question in terms of what it would take for genuine friendship to exist amidst such disparities of power, authority, or other human differences.
And throughout all these themes, we’ll be building a robust picture of what it takes to become, and to remain, a true friend.
Workshop Discussion Structure
Our discussion will be centered around some short extracts from Aristotle’s writings on friendship in Books VIII and IX of the Nicomachean Ethics, which we’ll read aloud together during the session. These should, in turn, provide the springboard for robust reflection, critique, and self-examination as we examine Aristotle’s arguments and their applicability to our own lives.
When
Wednesday, December 4th from 6:30pm-8:30pm
Where
Reeder’s Alley Conference Center (101 Reeder’s Alley, Helena MT 59601)
RSVP
Cost
FREE (Donations appreciated)
Discussion Leader
David Nowakowski is a philosopher and educator in the Helena area whose professional work is dedicated to helping people of all ages and backgrounds access, understand, and apply the traditions of ancient philosophy to their own lives. David began studying ancient philosophies and classical languages in 2001 and has continued ever since. A scholar of the philosophical traditions of the ancient Mediterranean (Greece, Rome, and North Africa) and of the Indian subcontinent, reading Sanskrit, Latin, and classical Greek, he earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in 2014. His work has appeared in a variety of scholarly journals, including Philosophy East & West, Asian Philosophy, and the Journal of Indian Philosophy, as well as in presentations to academic audiences at Harvard, Columbia University, the University of Toronto, Yale-NUS College in Singapore, and elsewhere.
After half a decade teaching at liberal arts colleges in the northeast, David chose to leave the academy in order to focus his energies on the transformative value of these ancient philosophical and spiritual traditions in his own life and practice, and on building new systems of education and community learning that will make this rich heritage alive and available to others.
A hermit by nature and by committed choice, he balances contemplative solitude with his active work in teaching, counseling, and the healing arts. David can be reached at [email protected] or via his personal website.
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