Idea Of Friendship Research Articles

Sustainability of Digital Friendship: Insights from Early Buddhist Mettā

One of the significant effects of technology on human relations is visible in friendship. Positively technology through its digital spaces is facilitating friendship that is instant and beyond the limitations of time and space. However, such digital friendships that operate through social media often suffer from issues of trust and sustainability. To resolve this predicament, we need to pause and reflect on how digital friendship can be reframed to improve its sustainability in a practical manner. The primary purpose of this article is to examine how helpful the early Buddhist concept of mittatā (friendship) is in sustaining friendship in the digital age. The article begins by eliciting the moral challenges people encounter in online friendships. The objective is to highlight the need for a more vital concept of friendship, such as the early Buddhist concept of mittatā, that can mitigate the moral concerns in digitized friendship, making it genuine and sustainable. The subsequent part of the article offers an overview of some of the significant theories of friendship upheld in the West and examines whether they can support the sustainability of a digitized friendship. The objective is to reflect upon the lacuna in the practice of such ideas of friendship in the contemporary digital age. To replenish the lacuna, the following section articulates the early Buddhist concept of mittatā as a noble concept of friendship that can be morally relevant and sustainable in this digital world. Based on the philosophical study of the early Buddhist literature, the present article investigates how helpful mettā (loving kindness) in this society to sustain a trustworthy friendship. It proposes an ethical and noble way to nurture and savour an honourable friendship relevant to the digital era by inculcating specific virtues advocated by the Buddha.

Misreading C. S. Lewis on Friendship: The Charges of Sexism, Secrecy, and Snobbery

C. S. Lewis's published writings comprise some forty-odd books in multiple genres, hundreds of essays, and thousands of letters. The theme that arguably rises above other themes is love, and within the family of different kinds of love, the love of friendship holds prominence. Although Lewis is often credited for accessible writing, there exists a number of popular misunderstandings about his ideas of friendship in particular. Several writers—theologians, philosophers, and literary scholars—have leveled serious charges against Lewis's understanding of friendship. This article will evaluate three of these charges in more detail, those of sexism, secrecy, and snobbery. The article shows that these are based on incomplete readings or complete misreadings of Lewis's life and writings. This is not to say that Lewis had no blind spots (he certainly did), but that they are not always where his critics see them.

The Power of the “Knowing Women”

The Power of the “Knowing Women”

Returning‐home fieldwork in China with a dear friend: Friendship, personal safety, and diversity

AbstractDrawing on my accompanied returning‐home fieldwork in China with a dear friend, Yun, this paper critically reflects on the ideas of friendship in fieldwork and its enabling and enhancing role in managing safety concerns and negotiating data collection. The contribution is two‐fold. First, it advances current fieldwork scholarship in Humanities and Social Sciences that predominantly focuses on the researcher–informant friendship formed in the field by engaging with the companionship of pre‐existing friends. This diversifies our understandings of fieldwork friendship in individually, socially and culturally unsettling ways. Second, this study furthers ongoing conversations calling for greater visibility and support of different forms of accompanied fieldwork by focusing on the accompaniment of pre‐existing friends. Three potential directions are outlined to normalise the model of accompanied fieldwork in efforts to promote equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in geography fieldwork.

Friends with Benefits (and Sometimes Costs)

In peace and justice movements (and I include all environmental campaigns and movements under the rubric environmental justice) the ideas of friendship are never far from the surface. And just as Dr. King wrote about the various forms of love, we can consider multiple types of friendship as it relates to activism for peace, social change, and a broad array of justice issues. I will suggest that this is not a mere side characteristic, but can often be central to questions of effectiveness. Overcoming paralyzing polarizing divisions, conflicting worldviews, radically different values and norms in order to achieve a particular, carefully outlined and bounded goal is, in our age of greatly divided segments of the polity, perhaps a way forward worth exploring in some situations.

Spinoza, Our Mutual Friend: Deleuze and Guattari on Living a Philosophical Life

The essay draws together a number of disparate elements from Deleuze and Deleuze and Guattari’s various engagements with Spinoza. Specifically, the essay connects the notion of expressionism, which Deleuze develops in the early work Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza, to the notion of living a philosophical life from Spinoza: Practical Philosophy, to the ideas of friendship and conceptual personae in Deleuze and Guattari’s What is Philosophy? To think philosophically, which following Spinoza Deleuze treats as a matter of thinking immanently and essentially, is to live a philosophical life, that is, to re-express the contingencies of an empirical life in and as the essence of a life. Such is the existential and ethical task Spinoza presents us. The essay argues that a Spinozan existential ethics is realisable only in relation to – only in friendship with – the image of a philosopher as conceptual persona. Further, the essay argues that Spinoza is an exemplary philosopher in this regard because expressionism, which he alone in the history of philosophy conceptualises in fully univocal fashion, presents an image of a philosopher as a friend to one and to all. The ethical implication of thinking immanently and living essentially in the image of Spinoza as a photographic lens is to constitute a community of friends – distant and non-communicative as that community may be. Or, to put the point in Dickensian terms that Deleuze appeals to in ‘Immanence: A Life’, the Ethics is of ethico-existential import in expressing the image of Spinoza as our mutual philosophical friend.

‘For an assured freende is the medicine of life’

During his time in England as the lead court artist, Anthony van Dyck came into contact with the English Virtuosi, their discourses and their practical research into nature. This article examines the connection between English virtuosity and ideal ideas of friendship and the role that the artist played in this. Argueing that Van Dyck was part of a friendly circle of said Virtuosi and reconstructing that circle on a small scale, it discusses the famous double portrait of Van Dyck and Endymion Porter as a portrait of friendship as well as a product of the symbiotic culture of friendship and English virtuosity and the making of knowledge that springs from it.

Family Values and Practices in the Discourse of Tatars and Russians in Tatarstan

Introduction. Now that family values ​​are both the most significant and the most debated ones, the issue of the socio-cultural foundations of the corresponding norms and actions is of particular importance. Based on exploratory research, the article considers the most general nature of the influence of the ethnic factor on family values, statuses, and practices of the Tatars and Russians living in Tatarstan, and identifies the place of the family in the system of their life priorities. Materials and Methods. The study adopted the value-oriented approach and certain provisions of the theory of transformation of a traditional society into a modern one. It was based on the texts of 30 in-depth interviews given by the families of urban and rural Tatars and Russians living in the region. Most of the interviews were conducted in two-generation family homes, which made it possible to create a confidential atmosphere of conversation, and to imagine how the family members really interact, as well as to cover several generations of interviewees thus increasing their number. Results. The performed analysis of the texts has revealed that, while the family tops the hierarchy of values ​​of both Tatars and Russians, there have been differences in the content of family values ​​and in their interrelation with other ones. Among the Tatars, all other value orientations are linked the family, solution of economic problems being an integrating factor, and extended kinship relations being significant. For ethnic Russians, work, self-development, and hobbies have a separate and independent meaning; the family tends to be united by the ideas of friendship and mutual understanding, while close kindred ties are mainly maintained with the nuclear family. Discussion and Conclusion. The study made it possible to draw conclusions and assumptions about the common features and differences in family values ​​and practices of the Tatars and Russians living in Tatarstan, due to the ethno-confessional specifics of cultures and the peculiarities of their social dynamics. Prospects for the study of family priorities are associated with further research into the interaction of the culturally related norms and values of the ethnic communities. This may become a basis for the development of their mutual understanding and cooperation.

Friendship in the Hebrew Bible

Friendship in the Hebrew Bible

How to be a good friend

When approached in a structured way, circle time for three-to-five-year-olds can be a great opportunity to explore ideas of friendship and empathy. Jo Blank and Gill Matthews provide ideas to start the conversation.

(DE-)CONSTRUCTING SERBIAN RUSSOPHILIA IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CRISIS IN UKRAINE

On the background of the Ukrainian crisis, the relations between Russia and the Euro-Atlantic community reach a new critical point. The article aims to follow the way in which this tension unfolds in the Serbian society. It starts with identifying the types of discourses related to the idea of „friendship/ brotherhood” between Serbia and Russia. The selection of discourses is composed of statements belonging to officials from Belgrade, the political parties and the civil society. Using the poststructuralist approach, this study starts from the idea that international relations and a state’s foreign policy are strongly connected with the meanings attached to concepts or ideas. Such meanings are not given by a certain objective historical evolution, but can be constructed or deconstructed by the political, intellectual, social elites within a community. The discourses, collected from the November 2013 – April 2016 period, will be analysed with the Foucauldian Discourse Analysis method. Firstly, we will see how the idea of friendship between Serbia and Russia is constructed or deconstructed by several selected elite groups (how the different discourses are organized) and secondly, if the particular types of discourses imply certain specific foreign policy positions, justified by the elites as being directly linked. Conclusions indicate that Russophilia is a powerful legitimization tool, even in a context where this approach creates missed opportunities. On the contrary, emotional arguments prevail and strictly rational foreign policy decisions can be easily antagonized as breaking the norms of good international behaviour.

#STREATstories: Mapping a creative collaboration

#STREATstories is a storytelling project focused on the artistic activities and interventions of a social enterprise that successfully supports homeless and disadvantaged young people in Melbourne’s inner city. The project explores an ‘applied creative writing’ approach to creative fieldwork, critical perspectives and imaginative inquiry for researchers keen to employ their writing/research skills and interests to matters of social injustice and inequity. This paper goes ‘behind the scenes’ to uncover the orientation of four collaborators on this creative research project, all of whom come from very different creative practices, and examine what informs their approach – what and how they do what they do as co-creators and what brings them into this collaborative space. Areas of approach and interest range across ideas of friendship and ‘lovence’, the ‘intimacy of failure’, notions of ‘giving’ voice, and the ‘collaboration’ between artists and materials. The four contributors to this paper explore how these various interests influence the process of collaboration and co-creation as they negotiate ‘that simple but enigmatic step, joining hand, eye and mind’ (Carter 2004: xiii).

Dante's Idea of Friendship: The Transformation of a Classical Concept by Filippa Modesto

Dante's Idea of Friendship: The Transformation of a Classical Concept by Filippa Modesto

Dante’s Idea of Friendship. The Transformation of a Classical Concept

Dante’s Idea of Friendship. The Transformation of a Classical Concept

Navigating the boundaries of cultural difference through participatory drama

This article presents a summary of a research project conducted in the UK and Taiwan, examining how two groups of primary aged children responded to the same set of drama lessons designed around a traditional Chinese story, The Water Ghost (in Chinese, 水鬼). The authors summarise both the story and their research methodology before outlining the theoretical perspectives that frame a selective analysis of their findings. These relate to literature on globalisation, in particular to ideas of ‘glocalisation’, the navigation of boundaries and the ethics of cosmopolitanism. The pull between forces of universalisation and localisation is of particular significance in the subsequent analysis, which includes a selection of visual representational material provided by both groups and a critique of the ideas of friendship that were expressed as part of the drama work. Here, although many similarities are noted between the two groups of children, the authors point to some significant differences that they tentatively speculate can be traced to deeply rooted cultural traditions. The article also illustrates drama's capacity to spatialise stories and ideas as a potential methodology to aid cross-cultural research of this kind.

A Genuine Friend Wishes to be a Debtor: John Chrysostom’s Discourse on Almsgiving Reinterpreted

This article presents a systematic analysis of John Chrysostom’s concept of God as debtor, which is primarily used in his discourse on almsgiving. On the basis of John’s own suggestion, it is proposed that friendship with God is the appropriate interpretative framework for understanding how God can become one’s debtor. Chrysostom’s idea of friendship with God is explored in relation to his views about merchandise against the background of both Graeco-Roman euergetism and aspects of the Judeo-Christian tradition on gift-giving. It is argued that despite his abundant use of the economic language of lending and banking, Chrysostom’s dominant emphasis falls on the cultivation of friendship with God, rather than on almsgiving as a redemptive activity in itself.

Friendship and Adults With Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities and English Disability Policy

The authors analyzed references to “friendship” in the documents that set out the policy vision for adults with intellectual disabilities living in England. Friendship is commonly identified as one of the human “goods”—those aspects of life that contribute to our flourishing. Disability ethicists have suggested that friendship is especially important for people with the most profound intellectual and multiple disabilities, as a means of establishing their social and moral standing. However, the idea of friendship with adults with profound disabilities is problematic if friendship is defined as it is commonly understood in the contemporary English context. Citizenship and rights have dominated policy discourse since the publication of the English intellectual disabilities strategy, Valuing People, in 2001. However, recent policy documents give greater prominence to friendship and frame it explicitly as a “good” in the lives of adults with profound disabilities. The language used in these policy documents signals but does not openly acknowledge the tensions and complexities entailed in the idea of friendship with adults with profound disabilities. The authors suggest that the failure to address these tensions and complexities is a recipe for failure in the implementation of policy recommendations. They note the need for policy in this area to be reconsidered and suggest that this process should be informed by both empirical research and conceptual analysis.

Introduction: Friendship and Emotions

1.1 There has been an increase in sociological literature concerned with friendship in modern societies, although it was neglected until recently (Allan 1977, 1986, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2007, 2008, Adams, Allan 1989, Alberoni 1990, Allan 1977, 1997, Bidart 1997, Bosisio 2006 , Di Nicola 2002, 2003, Duck 1991, 1993, Eve 2002, Ghisleni 2006, Ghisleni, Rebughini 2006, Kao, Joyner 2005, Jamieson 1999, 2002, Jamieson et al. 2006, Mancdich 2003, Nedelmann 1991, Oliker 1998, Pahl 2000, 2002, Rebughini 2006, Rebughini et al. 2011, Silver 1989, 1990, Spencer, Pahl 2006, Yager 2004, Walker 1994). Sociologists have neglected friendships in the past because they have been understood as personal choices rather than as allied to the public matters that were the subject of most sociological interrogation (Di Nicola 2002, p. 11). The idea of friendship as an intimate relationship which belongs only to the private sphere of social actors has been rejected in recent years by scholars. One reason for the change was that many social theorists turned their attention to the process of individualization and in particular institutionalized individualism (Beck, BeckGernsheim, 2002, p. xxi), which arguably characterizes contemporary society (Bauman 2003; Giddens 1992). As a result social thinkers began to interrogate the role of friendship in modern life not only in the private but also in the public sphere. Ancient wisdom has its part in this new interrogation. Friendship is not only a ’virtue’, according to the Greek philosopher Aristotle (1983), but a social practice: a social relationship between two individuals who freely choose and mutually trust each other. Trusting a person permits you to rely on him/her in order to receive advice, support, aid, affection but also in order to confide to him/her the ‘backstage’ of one’s self. A friend is a person to whom you can show your dreams, delusions, fears and certainties, strengths and weaknesses (Di Nicola 2002, p. 71). The social norm that regulates friendship is reciprocity. Friendship also has to be understood also as a feeling and emotion which arises between the two persons involved in the relationship (Di Nicola 2002, Alberoni 1999). As is well known emotions and feelings have been strongly marginalized in sociological discourse (Flam 2002).

Utópicas cidades de nossas andanças: flânerie e amizade no acompanhamento terapêutico

Com base na experiência do acompanhamento terapêutico como uma clínica sem muros, imersa na cidade, o artigo centra-se no tema da cidade nas suas relações com a subjetividade. Valendo-se das elaborações de Benjamin sobre a flânerie e a idéia da amizade como política, presente em Foucault e Derrida, o texto assinala a importância, para a consecução dessa clínica, de se tomar em consideração a cidade como polis, aberta ao encontro com a diferença e, portanto, território de conflitos e negociação. Assim, a cidade como polis é a utopia que a clínica do acompanhamento terapêutico busca ativar.

Leadership and friendship: On the possibility of taking risks

Literature about the significance of cultivating democratic relationships in universities and schools abounds. However, very little has been said about the importance of friendship in engendering democratic relations. In this essay I argue for a complementary view of friendship based on mutuality and love - with reference to the seminal ideas of Nancy Sherman and Jacques Derrida. Our view is that human relations ought to be used as pedagogical spaces to nurture forms of friendship which not only encourage mutuality but also love in order to make possible the taking of risks on the part of leaders and their colleagues. And, if leaders and their colleagues act with mutuality and love they would be more favourably positioned in their society to take risks and to sustain democratic relationships. In this essay we shall show how both Nancy Sherman's (1997) and Jacques Derrida's (1997) ideas of friendship can be used to nurture human relations which involve taking risks. Our argument in defence of taking risks through friendships is hopefully a move away from fostering democratic interactions among leaders and colleagues, which could potentially ignore forms of action which involve challenging, undermining and disagreeing with one's friends.