Friendship

Abstract

This chapter considers “On the most intimate union of love and respect in friendship”—Kant’s conclusion to the preceding Elements of Ethics comprised of duties to oneself and to others. Kant first describes the elements of an ideal friendship which, as ideal, cannot be realized by human beings, yet it can serve as a standard for evaluating human friendships. He then proceeds to describe the elements of humanly possible “moral friendships” that strive toward a balance of love and respect, pointing out the difficulties in achieving them. This chapter elaborates on Kant’s behalf these types of friendship. It then proceeds to discuss Kant’s appendix on the virtues of social intercourse and their role in moral life.