Friendship in Aristotle and Buddhism: Confluences and Divergences
Abstract
This paper aims at a cross-cultural comparison between friendship in Aristotle and friendship in Buddhist traditions. Aristotle’s thorough analysis of friendship results in Buddhist concepts of friendship necessarily a sub-category as Aristotle deems friendship within religious communities to be a niche category of friendship. Although Buddhist notions of love and compassion are universally prescribed, monastic friendship is necessarily highly selective to be between like-minded individuals within a Buddhist community pursuing the shared end of enlightenment. Buddhism however offers three categories of friendship: lay community friendship, monastic friendship and spiritual friendship. Buddhism, therefore, while unavoidably a sub-category of Aristotelian concepts of friendship, reveal nuanced approaches to friendship depending on an individual’s place in the Buddhist tradition.
Publication Title
Love and Friendship Across Cultures Perspectives from East and West
Recommended Citation
Taylor, K. (2021). Friendship in Aristotle and Buddhism: Confluences and Divergences. Love and Friendship Across Cultures Perspectives from East and West, 37-53. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4834-9_3
