Thesis (M. Div. with Concentration : Christian Care and Counseling)--Emmanuel School of Religion, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-49).

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One of the problems in human relationships is to determine what factors enter into friendship. One method of investigating this is to study traits as compared between reciprocal and unreciprocal friendships. This present study is an effort to make contributions towards this problem.

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This project will contribute to our understanding of both Aristotle’s theory of friendship in particular and friendship as a philosophical topic in general. Chapter 1 focuses on explaining what Aristotle means when he says that friendship either is a virtue or is similar to virtue. Specifically, he claims that friendship is like a hexis prohairetikē (a state which chooses). This phrasing is remarkably similar to his description of the character virtues, and it invites comparison between the two kinds of states. In Chapter 2 I examine the common scholarly suggestion that Aristotle’s taxonomy of pleasure- utility- and virtue-based friendships is closely linked to the motivations that individuals have when they pursue friendship. By focusing on Aristotle’s remarks on the time it takes to properly establish a friendship, I develop a view of Aristotle on which the motivations that a person has for pursuing a friendship often uncouple from the kind of friendship they succeed in forming. In Chapter 3 I defend Aristotle’s account of friendship from three common contemporary objections. Some scholars believe that Aristotle is too strict in his account of friendship, that only truly good people can be friends, that many friendships on Aristotle’s account are not truly friendship, and that Aristotle is wrong about vicious peoples’ ability to form friendships. I reply to each objection. In chapter 4 I follow Aristotle in arguing that we should understand goodness of character as a necessary, grounding feature of friendship. In so doing, I disagree with those contemporary scholars who do not follow Aristotle on this point, insisting instead that two individuals can be friends without being good, and their friendship can be about bad or immoral things and activities. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / In this dissertation, I explore and defend underappreciated and misunderstood features of Aristotle’s theory of friendship. Aristotle’s account of friendship is one of the foundational texts for contemporary philosophical discussions of friendship. Understanding Aristotle on his own terms is therefore important to carrying on these discussions. Furthermore, I argue that when his view is understood in the ways that I suggest, it is more philosophically defensible and psychologically plausible than is often supposed. I show that, for Aristotle, friendship and virtue are importantly connected; that his view on friendship’s development tracks with many of our contemporary intuitions; and that his view is defensible against several common contemporary objections. Finally, I defend Aristotle’s claim that goodness of character is an essential aspect of friendship and highlight the advantages this view offers contemporary discussions of friendship.

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Thesis advisor: Daniel J. Daly / Thesis advisor: James F. Keenan / This thesis examines the concept of Fihavanana in Malagasy morality, characterized by the promotion of life in its fullness. Currently, global and local socio-political crises have resulted in significantly increased violence in Malagasy society. It reviews and examines the concept of Fihavanana through the lens of Christian friendship as expressed in scriptural and Christian tradition. The thesis endeavors to assess and guide the Malagasy response to the loss of social friendship and increase in deadly violence in the nation. It interprets Fihavanana through Christian friendship rooted in charity to arrive at a principle that can be embraced at the national level. Fihavanana thus interpreted is a norm of Christian ethics for life that can shape and guide Malagasy morality to build (re-build) a peaceful and harmonious society. / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

<p>Three studies focus on an intriguing paradox in the associations between gender, friendship quality, and loneliness, and examine whether gender differences in friendship expectations help explain why the paradox occurs. Study 1 (n = 1761 college undergraduates) documents the three elements of this paradox: (1) females reported higher levels of various positive features in their friendships than did males; (2) higher levels of positive friendship features were associated with lower levels of loneliness; and (3) males and females reported similar levels of loneliness. Consistent with this paradox, when friendship features were statistically controlled, a statistical suppression effect was found such that females reported higher levels of loneliness than did males. </p><p>Study 2 (n = 1008 young adults aged 18 to 29) replicated each of the findings from Study 1 using a revised and expanded measure that reliably assessed a broader set of distinct friendship features. In addition to measuring friendship features and loneliness, Study 2 also examined friendship satisfaction, and here too a striking suppression effect emerged. Specifically, although females reported slightly higher levels of friendship satisfaction than did males, females reported lower levels of friendship satisfaction than did males when friendship features were statistically controlled. Another noteworthy finding was that several friendship features were more strongly related to friendship satisfaction for females than they were for males, suggesting that females may be more "sensitive" to subtle variations in friendship features than are males. </p><p>Study 3 (n = 419 young adults aged 18 to 29) further replicated the suppression effects observed in Studies 1 and 2, and was designed to learn whether gender differences in friendship expectations would help explain the paradox and suppression effects. Two different facets of friendship expectations were hypothesized and assessed with newly developed, highly reliable measures of each facet. The first facet, referred to as "feature-specific friendship expectations," focused on the degree to which individuals expect a best friendship to be characterized by each of the friendship features that were assessed in Study 2. The second facet, referred to as "feature-specific friendship standards," focused on identifying where individuals "set the bar" in deciding whether or not a friend's actions have fulfilled expectations in various friendship feature domains. </p><p>Gender differences were found for both facets of friendship expectations with females generally having higher expectations for their friends than did males. The two facets were only moderately correlated, and related in distinct ways to other variables of interest. Findings indicated that higher levels of feature-specific friendship expectations were generally associated with more positive functioning in the social domain (i.e., higher levels of positive friendship features and friendship satisfaction), whereas higher levels of feature-specific friendship standards were associated with potentially more problematic functioning (i.e., more negative responses to ambiguous violations of friendship expectations). </p><p>Study 3 also tested the hypothesis that discrepancies between feature-specific friendship expectations and the quality of a person's best friendship on each of the same features are associated with loneliness and also with friendship satisfaction. Polynomial regression analysis, rather than the traditional difference score approach, was used to test this hypothesis. The discrepancy hypothesis was not supported with regard to either loneliness or friendship satisfaction; possible explanations for this finding are discussed. </p><p>Together, findings from the three studies provide evidence of the replicability of the observed paradox, identify friendship quality as a suppressor variable on gender differences in loneliness and friendship satisfaction, and provide evidence for the existence of two distinct facets of friendship expectations. Results from this dissertation suggest important directions for future research designed to better understand the linkages among gender, social cognition, and social experience in contributing to emotional well-being for young adults.</p> / Dissertation

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