Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more humans. This article focuses on the notion specific to interpersonal relationships. In this sense, the term connotes a
relationship which involves mutual
knowledge,
esteem, and
affection. Friends will welcome each other's company and exhibit
loyalty towards each other, often to the point of
altruism. Their
tastes will usually be similar and may converge, and they will share enjoyable activities. They will also engage in mutually helping
behavior, such as exchange of advice and the sharing of hardship. A friend is someone who may often demonstrate reciprocating and reflective
behaviors. Yet for many, friendship is nothing more than the
trust that someone or something will not harm them.
Value that is found in friendships is often the result of a friend demonstrating on a consistent basis:
In a comparison of
personal relationships, friendship is considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of
intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association can be thought of as spanning across the same continuum. The study of friendship is included in
sociology,
anthropology,
philosophy, and
zoology. Various theories of friendship have been proposed, among which are
social psychology,
social exchange theory,
equity theory, relational
dialectics, and
attachment styles.
See Interpersonal relationships
Friendship is considered one of the central human experiences, and has been sanctified by all major religions.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, a Babylonian poem that is among the earliest known literary works in history, chronicles in great depth the friendship between
Gilgamesh and
Enkidu. The
Greco-Roman had, as a paramount example, the friendship of
Orestes and
Pylades. The
Abrahamic faiths have the story of
David and Jonathan. Friendship played an important role in German
Romanticism. A good example for this is Schiller's
Die Bürgschaft. The
Christian Gospels state that
Jesus Christ declared, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."(John 15:13).
In philosophy,
Aristotle is known for his discussion (in the
Nicomachean Ethics) of
philia, which is usually (somewhat misleadingly) translated as "friendship," and certainly includes friendship, though is a much broader concept.
Cultural variations: (stub-section) A group of friends consists of two or more people who are in a mutually pleasing relationship engendering a sentiment of camaraderie, exclusivity, and mutual trust. There are varying degrees of "closeness" between friends. Hence, some people choose to differentiate and categorize friendships based on this sentiment
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21-01-2008, : 02:35
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