Abstract
"Friendship", for Aristotle, is a term with "focal meaning" which denominates relationships as casual as “fellow travelers on a voyage”, as permanent as spouses, and whose motives are as various as the commercial, military, religious, sexual, political and the virtuous. What can be said of all these relationships is that they involve a solidarity, a concordat, a reciprocity, which has its foundation in a common field between the parties and which produces common actions or exchanges. All friendships tend to equality in the sense that they do not insist on ‘what is due’ as an ultimate end; friendship, like equity, surpasses justice in the fulfillment of what is owed. Because friendship fosters solidarity and justice it is politically important as a virtue-context, according to Aristotle. Is it possible that friendship can function as a virtue-context within economic life as well? Aristotle's notion of a type of useful friendship which functions through expectation of moral behavior will be shown to provide both motive and context for the performance of acts of virtue in a business setting.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aristotle.: 1985, Nichomachean Ethics, VIII,1 (trans. Terence Irwin. Hackett Publishing Co., Indianapolis), 1155a3–5.
Cooper, John M.: 1980, ‘Aristotle on Friendship’, in Rorty (ed.), Essays on Aristotle's Ethics (University of California), pp. 301–340.
Horvath, Charles.: 1995, ‘Excellence v. Effectiveness: MacIntyre's Critiquie of Business’, Business Ethics Quarterly 5, pp. 499–532.
Nash, Laura L.: 1993, Good Intentions Aside: A Manager's Guide to Resolving Ethical Problems (Harvard Business School Press, Boston).
Owens, Joseph.: 1989, ‘An Ambiguity in Aristotle, EE VII 2 1236a23–24’, Apeiron 22, pp. 127–137.
Price, A. W.: 1989, Love and Friendship in Plato and Aristotle (Clarendon Press, Oxford).
Schollmeier, Paul.: 1994, Other Selves: Aristotle on Personal and Political Friendship (SUNY Press, Albany).
Solomon, Robert.: 1994, Above the Bottom Line: An Introduction to Business Ethics (Harcourt Brace, Forth Worth, Philadelphia, etc.).
Stark, Andrew: 1993, ‘What's the Matter with Business Ethics?’, Harvard Business Review, May/June, pp. 38–48.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sommers, M.C. Useful Friendships: A Foundation for Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 16, 1453–1458 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005776301469
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005776301469