<p>My dissertation seeks to clarify the stakes of recent calls to increase civic friendship in our communities by initiating a conversation between contemporary and historical theoretical work about the requirements and consequences of using friendship as a model for social and political relationships between citizens. Friends’ lives are bound together by shared activity and by mutual concern and support; in what ways do relations between citizens, who often begin as strangers, take up these attitudes and behaviors? What kinds of civic friendship are possible in our contemporary democratic communities? How are they cultivated? And what are their political advantages and disadvantages? These questions guide the project as a whole. </p><p>I begin by canvassing some recent and popular work by Robert Bellah et al., Robert Putnam, and Danielle Allen in order to clarify the claims they make about different forms of civic friendship. The chapters that follow focus on the work of Aristotle, Tocqueville, and Adam Smith respectively in order to respond to various gaps I find in the contemporary accounts. I assess what each thinker, contemporary and canonical, can offer us today as we continue to think about the most sustainable and fair ways in which citizens can relate to one another in vast and diverse contemporary democracies. Along the way I address several important over-arching issues: the relationship between self-interest and care for others; the relationship between different sorts of equality and civic friendship; and the different roles that reason, emotions, habits, and institutions play in the cultivation of various kinds of civic friendship. I conclude that equality and justice ought to be both prerequisites and consequences of civic friendship, that self-interest is not a sufficient source for robust civic friendship and that instead some kind of imaginative and emotional motivation is needed, and that civic friendship must be understood as both a moral and a political phenomenon.</p> / Dissertation

This thesis is about a pastoral theology of participation, guided by the process of participatory action research. It explores through the lived experience of the participants practical ways of doing friendship. On this research journey, I explore the discourse of individualism and how it blinds us to our connectedness as creations in the image of God. Without denying the benefits scientific development have to offer, I argue for a more richly textured individualism, inviting concern for the consequences of our actions on the well-being of others as part of our ethical ways of being. The Fourth Century description of a Christian as `friend of God' was the inspiration for the metaphor of friendship as a powerful counterweight against the isolating forces of a culture where the distorting ideology of consumerism and individualism are prevailing. I argue for the re-membering of this metaphor for God as friend, and the church as community-of-friends. Through the telling of tales of living friendship, interwoven with and giving life to the philosophy of friendship, I build further on the metaphor for the church as community-of-friends. I propose a Friendship Position Map and the metaphor of a circle of concern, arguing that although it comes more natural to us to love those close to us, and reach out to them in friendship, in an ethical spirituality of participation and mutual care, we are to follow Jesus' example and show hospitality towards all others, including strangers and enemies. Where many authors write about the importance of community, this thesis is about how to create the nourishing community we long for. It explores practical ways in which communities can overcome obstacles in their way to connect to each other through ethical ways of loving and doing friendship. It offers some ideas about learning to be friends in the inner circles of the circle of concern with those close to us, in order to do friendship in the outer circles. I explore the role of the church and faith communities as habitat for the nurturing and/or cultivating of living friendships, in inviting faith communities to live as community-of-friends; friends of God and of one another. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. - (Practical Theology--Pastoral Therapy)

This study considers the theology and practice of friendship in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s academic writing, his pastoral work and thought, his involvement in the Abwehr plot, and his prison letters, taking special interest in the influence of Eberhard Bethge on Bonhoeffer and the influence of Bonhoeffer on Bethge. Friendship, as a locus of interpretation, also provides a fresh perspective on other aspects of Bonhoeffer’s thought, including ecclesiology, divine and human agency, eschatology, vicarious representation, concrete ethics and the divine command, politics, freedom, and obedience. Part I of the dissertation investigates Bonhoeffer’s theology before Bethge. In Sanctorum Communio, Bonhoeffer’s doctoral dissertation and first book, friendship is described as a community that is oriented to God’s creation and eschatological future, and the friend can participate in Christ’s redeeming work through ecclesial practices of Stellvertretung. Bonhoeffer’s failed friendship with Helmut Rößler, and his remarks about friendship within the context of his ministry in London and about the relation between ethics and the concrete command, offer insight into his theology of friendship as a political and ecclesiastical phenomenon in the context of the Third Reich. Part II of the dissertation looks at the theological influence Bonhoeffer and Bethge had on one another. At Finkenwalde, we begin to see this mutual influence begin to take shape, where freedom and obedience become part of the foundation of Bonhoeffer’s later concept of the Spielraum, and where we begin to see Stellvertretung, as a practice, take place between them. In the prison correspondence and through the influence of Bethge, Bonhoeffer develops the idea of the “realm of freedom” (der Spielraum der Freiheit), an expansion of Bonhoeffer’s theology of the mandates, where freedom and friendship become part of his understanding of social and political life. Integrating these theological and biographical resources, the study makes the constructive argument that a friend can be a theological Stellvertreter, taking into special account the particularity of the friend and mutuality that is characteristic of friendship. Through this participation in Christ’s redeeming work, its ecclesial location, and its political significance, a friendship can be for others.

The development of autonomous social robots is still in its infancy, but there is no reason tothink that it will not continue. In fact, the robotics industry is growing rapidly. Since this trendis showing no signs of abating it is relevant to ask what type of relations we can have withthese machines. Is it for example possible to be friends with them? In this thesis I argue that it is unlikely that we will ever be able to be friends with robots. To believe otherwise is to be deceived, a trap it is all too easy to fall into since the efforts put on making social robots as human-like as possible and to make the human-robot interaction as smooth as possible are huge. But robots are not always what they seem. For instance, the capacity to enter into a friendship of one’s own volition is a core requirement for a relationship to be termed friendship. We also have a duty to act morally towards our friends, to treat them with due respect. To be able to do this we need to have self-knowledge, a sense of ourselves as persons in our own right. We do not have robots who display these capacities today, nor is it a given that we ever will. / Utvecklingen av autonoma sociala robotar är ännu i sin linda men det finns ingen anledning att tro att den inte kommer att fortsätta. Faktum är att robotindustrin växer kraftigt. Då denna trend inte visar några tecken på att avta är det relevant att fråga sig vilket slags relation vi kan ha till dessa maskiner. Är det t.ex. möjligt att bli vän med dem? I denna uppsats argumenterar jag för att det inte är troligt att vi någonsin kommer att kunna utveckla vänskap med en robot. Att tro något annat är en villfarelse, en fälla det är alltför lätt att falla i inte minst på grund av den möda som läggs ned på att göra robotarna så människoliknande som möjligt och robot-människa-interaktionen så smidig som möjligt. Men robotarna är inte alltid vad de verkar vara. Exempelvis är förmågan att kunna inleda ett vänskapsförhållande på eget bevåg engrundförutsättning för att relationen ska kunna klassas som vänskap. Vi har också en plikt att handla moraliskt gentemot våra vänner, att behandla dem med respekt. För att kunna göra detta måste vi ha självkännedom, en uppfattning om oss själva som personer i vår egen rätt. Robotar har inte dessa förmågor idag, och det är inte säkert att de någonsin kommer att besitta dem.

Como as crianças significam amizade na escola? Esta é a pergunta que procuro problematizar nesta dissertação. Busco analisar a amizade entre crianças na escola, tendo como foco de investigação as formas como as crianças fazem amigos e se relacionam entre si neste ambiente. Através dos signos produzidos pelas crianças desta pesquisa – um grupo de dezoito crianças, oito meninas e dez meninos, na faixa etária entre sete e onze anos, cursando o segundo ano do ensino fundamental de uma escola pública de Porto Alegre –, intento conhecer como as mesmas se produzem e são produzidas a partir das relações de amizade entre si. Para tanto, os conceitos de signo e linguagem, de Charles Sanders Peirce (2008), e de amizade, particularmente de Friedrich Nietzsche (2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 e 2012), Michel Foucault (2010) e Francesco Alberoni (1989), constituíram-se no aporte teórico principal para a análise dos dados produzidos. Pela amizade, as crianças vivem um aspecto fundamental de suas infâncias no período em que estão na escola, como um exercício de experimentação e transitoriedade, em que lhes é possível aprender o Outro e aprender a si mesmas através do Outro. / How do children assign meaning to friendship at school? This is the question I intend to discuss in this thesis. It is my intention to analyze friendship among children at school, having as my investigative focus the ways in which children make friends and relate to each other in such environment. Based on signs produced by those children involved in this research – a group composed of eighteen children, eight girls and ten boys, aged seven to eleven, attending the second year of an elementary public school in Porto Alegre – I attempt to understand how they engender themselves and are engendered based on friendship relations built among them. In order to do so, the concepts of sign and language, by Charles Sanders Peirce (2008), as well as the concepts of friendship, particularly as referred to by Friedrich Nietzsche (2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2012), Michel Foucault (2010) and Francesco Alberoni (1989), have become the main theoretical contribution used to analyze the collected data. Children live a fundamental aspect of their childhoods through friendship. As they attend school, they become part of an exercise in experimentation and transience, where they can learn about the Other and learn about themselves through the Other.

The focus of this dissertation revolved around the phenomenon of friendship, specifically amongst adolescents. Friendship is a universal phenomenon, that occurs in every race, culture and religion. Within friendship there are some universal aspects that were investigated. The research attempted to understand the phenomenon of friendship amongst the developmental phase of the adolescent. Furthermore, the effect of friendship on the adolescent’s general psychological functioning had been investigated. The research came to the conclusion that friendship does have a positive influence on an adolescent’s general psychological functioning but that some psychological factors, such as communication skills, social skills and self confidence need to be developed to a certain extent in order for friendship to have a positive influence on the adolescent’s psychological functioning. If these psychological factors are however not in place, friendship may to a certain extent highlight an adolescent’s weaknesses and reinforce his/her social inadequacy, inferiority, lack of self confidence and negative self talk. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

In this dissertation, I argue that Aristotle's account of friendship is egoistic. Focusing on the Nicomachean Ethics, I begin with VIII.2. Here Aristotle claims that in all friendships, friends love only because of the lovable (φιλητóv), which divides into the useful, pleasant, and good. I argue that "because of (διὰ)" refers to at least the final cause and that "the lovable" refers to what appears to contribute one's own happiness (εuδαιμoνία); therefore Aristotle claims that in all friendships, friends love only for the sake of their own happiness. This result may seem incompatible with some types of concern Aristotle principally attributes to his normative paradigm of complete friendship: wishing goods for the sake of the other and loving the other for himself. One might argue that these types of concern are altruistic, and so it cannot be the case that in all friendships, friends love only for the sake of their own happiness. I argue that these types of concern ultimately hinge on one's own happiness. The object is the lovable (what appears to contribute to one's own happiness), specifically the good instantiated by the other's virtue; further, what a virtuous person takes as valuable about another's virtue is how it facilitates her own virtuous activity, that is, her own happiness. From here I turn to Aristotle's notion of 'another self'. One popular interpretation of other selfhood defies the altruism/egoism divide. Here the essential feature of other selfhood is virtue, which allows for no prioritization among virtuous people; there is no prioritization of the other over oneself (as in altruism) nor of oneself over the other (as in egoism), since the relevant parties are equal in moral standing (they are virtuous). Assessing the instances of 'another self' in the Nicomachean Ethics VIII.12, IX.4, and IX.9, I argue for an egoistic interpretation of other selfhood; the essential feature of other selfhood is involvement in one's own actualization. That is, what makes other selves valuable is how they facilitate one's own virtuous activity, one's own happiness. Finally, I address the doctrine of self-love in the Nicomachean Ethics IX.8. Again, some interpreters derive non-prioritization from the text; Aristotle claims that all virtuous people identify with the understanding (voũç), so, the non-prioritization interpretation goes, there can be no prioritization among virtuous agents, as they are identical in the relevant way. I argue for an egoistic interpretation of IX.8; Aristotle endorses praiseworthy self-love, which involves maximizing the superlatively valuable fine (καλòν) for oneself over others. Moreover, such self-prioritization occurs precisely by gratifying the understanding, that which was supposed to ground non-prioritization.

Researchers and lay people alike have long held an interest in understanding the antecedents, mechanisms, and consequences of prosocial behaviours: Acts people behave in ways that benefit others, such as cooperation, altruism, care-giving, empathy, sympathy, and compassion. Numerous lines of inquiry have now documented that acting prosocially carries many benefits for not only the recipient, but also the actor. For instance, acting prosocially attracts social capital, social support, and boosts interpersonal relationships; prosociality also increases one’s well-being, happiness, and has long-term physical and mental health benefits. While much of the past work has focused on the main effects of prosociality on various positive outcomes, one area that has received limited attention is understanding the contextual factors and individual differences that moderate these relationships. In the present thesis, I focus on understanding how socioeconomic status (SES) acts as a moderator of the link between prosociality and numerous positive outcomes. In particular, I examined how prosociality is related to building social networks through weak ties, coping with daily stress, and building interpersonal skills. Across these relationships, I examined how SES moderates the link between prosociality and each outcome. My research was guided by the SES-prosociality paradox: That while the rich have access to far greater resources – and thus the ability to act prosocially – it is the poor that tend to act most generously. I theorized that one reason for this paradox is that people across different SES strata benefit differently from acting prosocially. In particular, I reasoned that the people from lower SES backgrounds will tend to have stronger relationship between prosociality and various positive outcomes than people from higher SES backgrounds. To test this hypothesis, I conducted numerous empirical studies using multiple methods – analysing data from subjective reports via surveys and existing data from social media, running natural experiments, and conducting lab experiments using genetic and pharmacological challenge methods. In Chapters 2 and 3, I found that people who act prosocially tend to attract more weak social ties – this is only true for the relatively poor. In Chapter 4, I tested how empathic traits relate to better coping strategies for both lower and higher SES individuals, and found a complex pattern of differing benefits. Finally, in Chapter 5, I found that intranasal oxytocin improves emotional theory of mind, but only for the low SES individuals.

abstract: This dissertation aimed to identify the factors that facilitated the friendship initiation, development, and maintenance between Taiwanese and Chinese students and the influential relationship among those factors. Nine Taiwanese and nine Chinese students studying at one Taiwanese university were recruited for this study. The Chinese students were in Taiwan for at least two years. The participants were friends with the other party for at least 8 months. This study was divided into three stages. In the first stage, participants were required to provide factors that facilitated their friendship with the other party. Fifty ideas were collected. In the second stage, participants were asked to clarify those factors and then categorize those factors. Fourteen categories were identified in this stage. The participants, then, voted on factors that affected their friendship formation, development, and maintenance with other party. Fifteen factors were voted the highest among those factors. Those 15 factors were imported into interpretive structure modeling (ISM) software for the next stage. In the third stage, 18 one-on-one interviews were conducted, and 18 ISM diagrams were generated. ISM provided a method to identify the influential relationship among those factors. According to the results, the friendship formation model was proposed. Five stages were identified in this model: exploring, matching, engaging, deepening and bonding. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Communication 2016

abstract: Friendships make us happy, keep us healthy, and can even facilitate our reproductive fitness. But most friendships are not forever—even when we want them to be. How do people maintain valued friendships? I propose that “friendship jealousy” arises when people perceive others as posing threats to valued friendships, and that this response can function to prevent friendship loss and friend defection. In preliminary experiments, I tested predictions derived from this functional view. As predicted, I found, first, that friendship jealousy is calibrated to friend value. Second, friendship jealousy predicts intentions to “friend guard” (i.e., engage in behavior to protect the friendship). Third, friendship jealousy has sex-differentiated features, which are consistent with sex differences in friendship structures and ancestral friendship functions. The present work pits against one another intuitive and functional predictions as to what drives friendship jealousy. Although intuition might lead one to expect greater jealousy when a friend spends more time with a new person, a functional view suggests greater jealousy when that new person threatens to fulfill the same function for one’s friend that one is currently fulfilling (i.e., to “replace” him/her). Preliminary studies revealed that greater friendship jealousy is evoked when friends form new same-sex friendships (which presumably pose greater replacement threat, but lesser time threat) versus new romantic relationships (which presumably pose lesser replacement threat, but greater time threat). The focal experiment explicitly and experimentally manipulates a version of “replacement threat” (whether the best friend “chooses” the new friend over you) and “time threat” (how much time the best friend spends with the new friend). In line with functional predictions, the amount of time the best friend spends with a new friend drives friendship jealousy—but only when direct information about replacement threat is unavailable. Regardless of the time threat posed, participants report high friendship jealousy when replacement threat is high, and low friendship jealousy when replacement threat is low. Results imply that friendship jealousy is calibrated to replacement threat (over time threat). Overall, findings suggest that friendship jealousy might be a functional response aimed at facilitating friendship maintenance. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Psychology 2018