Ideas from 'Friendship' by Simone Weil [1940], by Theme Structure

[found in 'An Anthology' by Weil,Simone [Penguin 1986,978-0-141-18819-5]].

green numbers give full details    |     back to texts     |     unexpand this idea


23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 4. External Goods / d. Friendship
Friendship is partly universal - the love of a person is like the ideal of loving everyone
                        Full Idea: Friendship has something universal about it. It consists in loving a human being as we should like to be able to love each soul in particular of all those who go to make up the human race.
                        From: Simone Weil (Friendship [1940], p.288)
                        A reaction: Hm. Would you like your lover to dream of loving the human race, rather than just loving you? Perhaps only a Christian could see friendship in this way?