Impartiality, Close Friendship and the Confucian Tradition

Authors

Andrew Lambert, CUNY College of Staten IslandFollow

Document Type

Book Chapter or Section

Publication Date

2017

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between friendship and morality. Two ideas have been influential in the history of moral philosophy: the impartial standpoint and close friendship. These two perspectives on thought and action can conflict, however, and such a case is presented.

In an attempt to resolve this tension, and understand the assumptions that give rise to it, I explore an alternative conception of moral conduct and friendship suggested by early Confucian thought. Within this account, moral conduct is that which aims at harmony, understood as the appropriate blending of different elements. This suggests a conception of friendship, ‘event friendship’, which realizes harmony through a focus on shared activities, and the quality of interaction achieved between people as they participate in shared social events. This account offers a novel way of conceptualizing friendship, which also avoids the tension between the impartial standpoint and close friendship.

Comments

This chapter was originally published in Conceptualizing Friendship in time and Place, edited by C. Risseeuw & M. van Raalte (Leiden: Brill, 2017).