There has recently been a reengagement with Aristotle’s ethical thought. One only needs to mention contemporary virtue ethics, which explicitly names him as its inspiration. However, not all aspects of his ethical thought have received the attention, and engagement, they deserve. This is especially true of his egoism. In order to facilitate this engagement, this dissertation will offer a thorough account of Aristotle’s egoism. It will focus on his seminal work, the Nicomachean Ethics. Chapter One serves as a methodological introduction. It argues that Aristotle often uses a certain investigative procedure. He often posits preliminary positions that he later revises or rejects. Therefore, to properly grasp his thought, we must take care to distinguish his merely preliminary from his final positions. Chapter Two argues that Aristotle accepts a form of psychological egoism, namely that each person acts ultimately for the sake of his own happiness (εὐδαιμονία). This chapter both gives evidence for this interpretation and responds to two challenges that have been brought against it. The first challenge stems from Aristotle’s claim that friends benefit their friends for their friends’ own sake. The second challenge stems from Aristotle’s claim that virtuous action is kalon (“noble” or “fine”) and “for the sake of the kalon.” However, kala actions were popularly identified with actions of selfless beneficence. Chapter Three argues that Aristotle defends his view that we act ultimately for the sake of our own happiness. It is widely thought among those who agree that he holds this view that he never attempts to defend it. This chapter argues, to the contrary, that he does. It shows that he raises a challenge to his view that each person acts ultimately for the sake of his own happiness and then responds to it. This challenge is the popular view that virtuous people act in a selfless or self-disregarding way, especially in relation to their friends. This chapter then argues that Aristotle responds to this challenge through his discussion of friendship. He attempts to show, despite the popular view to the contrary, that virtuous people are not self-disregarding in relation to their friends.

Exploring the traffic between U.S. literary culture and political philosophy, this thesis surveys works by a range of leading male contemporary American novelists alongside the recent resurgent interest in friendship as a political concept. Long exiled from serious political philosophy, friendship returned as a crucial term in late twentieth-century communitarian debates about citizenship. Friendship also became integral to continental philosophy's exploration of the ontology of democracy, and, in a different guise, to histories of sexuality. Across these disciplines, friendship has been invoked as a pliable figure of affiliation, and often idealised as modelling equality. This thesis probes the origins of friendship's re-emergence in American political thought, and analyses how this far-reaching revival has registered in American fiction. The Introduction outlines how friendship has played a central role in the theory and practice of democratic politics since Aristotle suggested philia as fundamental to citizenship. In the U.S. context, male friendship in particular functioned as model for civic association in the nascent republic, and continued to be employed as a figure of egalitarian association in canonical works of nineteenth-century fiction. Yet despite its prominence historically in the U.S. civic imaginary, friendship was sidelined from American political culture for much of the twentieth century, until its rediscovery in the 1980s and 1990s as part of a wide-ranging critique of liberal individualism. The Introduction analyses how this renewal of critical commentary within mainstream liberal thought mirrored continental philosophy's contemporaneous exploration of democratic theory, wherein friendship was similarly examined as a vexed yet evocative site for the contestation of forms of political community. Marshalling this history, the thesis' main chapters argue that contemporary U.S. fiction continues to look to male friendship to explore questions of civic affiliation, political agency, and community, and to probe the history of these concepts in twentieth-century American liberalism. Chapter One focuses on Philip Roth's I Married a Communist (1998) and The Human Stain (2000), and analyses how Roth connects the political culture of the 1940s to the 1990s through the male friendships framing each narrative. Chapter Two draws on the anthropology of the gift to examine forms of reciprocity between male friends in Paul Auster's fiction. Chapter Three considers how novels by Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem contextualise their portrayals of interracial male friendship within the legacies of 1960s political radicalism. A Conclusion considers how some of the key themes emerging in previous chapters are reflected in Benjamin Markovits' You Don't Have to Live Like This (2015).

The transition of neighbourhoods in post apartheid South Africa has not received adequate attention. Mondeor, a previously White populated suburb in the South of Johannesburg has been identified as progressively diverse in respect of racially diverse neighbourhoods in the aftermath of Apartheid. By focusing on this suburb, the current study investigated whether increased contact with members from different race groups in a residential neighbourhood promotes the formation of inter-racial friendships and social mixing. In addition, it explored whether there were particular associations which promoted interracial friendships or social mixing. Finally, the different types of contact occurring within the suburb were explored. In order to address the above questions the study followed a Qualitative Cross Sectional design. Data for the study was attained through in-depth interviews from twenty residents of Mondeor. The sample was further divided into five participants from each of the four major race groups prevalent in South Africa( African Black, White, and Indian and so-called Coloured). The results from this study found that racial proximity facilitated for much social mixing and a few friendship formations. Closer examination found that there was a reluctance to mix in the suburb however religious and educational institutions as well as recreational facilities in the neighbourhood promoted some integration in the area. In conclusion, the area was racially diverse however not significantly integrated.

No description available.

The goal of this research was (1) to identify the patterns or pattern pieces of development for heterosexual, dyadic, romantic relationships that emerge from mixed-sex, friendship groups and (2) to compare and contrast those patterns or pattern pieces to patterns in existing stage theories. To address these goals, data were collected from students at a mid-sized, northwestern, land-grant university. Grounded theory was selected to analyze the data to allow the potential emergence of new perspectives and patterns. Two conclusions about relationship development emerged from the collected data. First, some participants did not identify the friendship and the romance as two distinct relationships. On the other hand, a second set of participants indicated the friendship and romance were, in fact, two distinctly different relationships. Differences in conclusions drawn by these two groups generated six possible revisions to existing relationship development stage theories. / Graduation date: 2003

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Friendship is an extremely significant and meaningful relationship for women of all ages, yet little research has been conducted on the friendships of adult women. Recent research indicates that aspects of friendship change as people progress through their adult years and take on family and work roles, but previous studies have focused on the structural attributes of friendships and not on the qualitative nature of these relationships. The main focus of this research was the level of emotional closeness between adult women and their closest non-kin friend, and how that closeness may be associated with women's stage of the family life cycle and work status. In addition, frequency of contact and similarities between friends were also investigated. A questionnaire was mailed to 666 randomly selected women from the voter registration list of a partly urban county. The final sample consisted of 315 adult women. Findings from this study indicate that emotional closeness and frequency of contact in the closest friendships of adult women were not associated with respondents' family or work status. Women and their closest friends were significantly similar in gender, age, family life cycle stage, and work status. All respondents were more likely to have close friends who were married. Intimacy was found to be related to duration of the friendship, where the friend lives, and form of contact. The primary source of close friendships for women at all stages of the family life cycle was either community or work. The data indicate that women are similar to their closest friend in certain social attributes and are able to maintain close friendships during adult years even when other roles are making demands on their time and energy. Friendship is a vital and meaningful relationship to women throughout adulthood. Continued research which investigates the qualitative nature of these relationships from a dyadic and longitudinal perspective is needed. / Graduation date: 1991

Project Thesis (D. Min.)--Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1984. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-96).

Thesis (Th.M.)--Calvin Theological Seminary, 2008. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-150) and abstract.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 149 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-80).