fandomhigh | Practical Philosophy, Monday

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practical philosophy

Practical Philosophy, Monday

Ender waited until everyone was seated on the lawn, as per usual; his eyes skipped over the class, lingering briefly on Mara ~~if she was there~~, since she'd inspired today's class.

"Friendship," he said, "is a virtue which is ‘most necessary with a view to living … for without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods’. At least, that's according to Aristotle, one of our most ancient philosophers. His definition of friendship is two people who bear good will towards each other, without this escaping their notice. With this, he meant that friendships had to be based on one of three things: an appreciation of each other's goodness, or pleasantness, or usefulness. Friendships based in full appreciation of each other and a willingness to wish each other well even when there's no immediate advantage in it for you, well, those were greatest of all."

He smiled faintly. "It sounds like a romantic ideal, but it's also good advice," he said. "Of course, Aristotle also believed there was such a thing as perfect friendship - to have a friend who is like another self. To appreciate each other's ability to exercise reason and virtue, that, he felt, was most important. You could certainly argue with that more strongly."

"One thing hasn't changed since Aristotle's time, though, and that's that we value such social bonds strongly," he continued. "Most cultures have some kind of fundamental belief about the necessity of friendship, though not everyone agrees on what that should be like. Or how to accomplish it. I'd like us to talk about this for a bit: have you ever had something approaching a 'perfect friend'? Do you believe you can sort friendships the way Aristotle did, or are things murkier? Is friendship that important to you?"

There. This shouldn't be too hard, surely. It was a nice day, even if the lawn smelled like cheese.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Friendly.

Ada Miller

Peridot

Mara Jade

It's short.

Have you ever had something approaching a 'perfect friend'? Do you believe you can sort friendships the way Aristotle did, or are things murkier? Is friendship that important to you?

"I never had friends b'fore I came here," Ada offered, since the topic seemed safe enough. "Was always home-schooled with my cousins, since we were on the road. Still think a school that don't move is weird--" she really, really liked that Mr. Skywalker took them outside. SO MUCH. "--but I like havin' friends, instead of only family for company."

"What makes the difference, for you?" Ender asked, as he idly unscrewed the cap of a water bottle.

"You don't gotta like your family, but they're yours anyway," Ada said with a wry grin. "Don't need t' agree with 'em as a person to love the idiots anyway."

"An' friends can become family, of course," not that Ada went around adopting people or anything... "--but that's your choice."

"So does that make your regular family an obligation?" Ender asked.

"My family ain't like most families," she laughed. "More obligation than most, most likely, since we all gotta work t' keep the carnival running. Everyone contributes something, even if it's not obvious to outsiders. People count on you in a substantial way that friends maybe don't; it's a different kind of support structure."

"Aristotle would call that a friendship of usefulness, I'd imagine," Ender said wryly. "Though when you work together like that, for some amount of time, its bonds are as meaningful as any other. Though they don't always last."

Peridot looked like she was a little bit at a loss, here. She was still down a foot, and she'd clunk-CLUNKed her way to class today a little less frustrated and a little more resigned than she had been the week before.

Now she was hugging her knees again and looking... anywhere but at anybody else, mostly. The grass was a lovely verdant hue, she was going to ever so casually pick a few blades and compare them to her own arm.

"Don't really know what friends are about," she muttered. "Apparently they're important, here."

"You don't have any friends at present?" Ender asked.

He... might have been the only person in the universe who could ask that question without sounding like he was full of judgment one way or the other. His basic speaking voice was weirdly neutral like that. "Is it not a big part of your culture?"

"I... don't really know if they count as friends," Peridot admitted. "I'm not entirely certain what the qualifiers are. There are humans here that I don't dislike, and who have been useful since my arrival. But with the way humans talk about it, it seems as though there's more to it than that."

She was not fidgeting, shut up.

"On Homeworld, there isn't much room for frivolities like that. I'm aware the concept exists, and I've seen camaraderie between other Gems before, but that's a luxury left to those of a higher station, I suppose."

Ender nodded slowly, processing that. "Let's take this in steps, then," he said. "What do you think the human concept of friendship is, more or less?"

"It's..." Peridot frowned, a faint tint of blue coloring her cheeks. "It can't be as complicated as I'm making it, if humans can do it so readily, but it seems out of my grasp. People who... need one another? For emotional stability? Mutually beneficial relationships sustained by choice for... a... reason."

She was struggling with this one, Ender. Help her out, here.

"The nakedly biological explanation would be 'because working together makes us stronger, enabling us to survive longer, and bonding emotionally means both humans involved are looking out for each other's wellbeing, thus increasing their chances.'"

Breaking these things down into basic evolutionary sense seemed like an easy way to explain it to Peridot, at least.

"The slightly less overtly scientific version is... because yes, friends keep us emotional stability, they bring us joy, and maintaining a friendship over a longer period of time deepens the bond, increasing familiarity. Which improves the former two functions because we know how to stabilize and cheer up our friends more effectively."

He could work his way up this stairwell of explanations for a while if you needed him to, Peridot.

"So... friendship is a sort of symbiosis?"

That, at least, seemed to sort of make sense. Maybe not perfectly accurate sense, but it was a start. Peridot wasn't fidgeting as much, anyway.

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