ABSTRACT
Friendship held an important place in ancient philosophical thought and is important for understanding ancient views concerning altruism, egoism, happiness, moral psychology, and virtue. In this chapter, I first offer a brief, critical account of some classical questions concerning friendship and of Aristotelian and Epicurean accounts of friendship. I then reconstruct and examine Stoic accounts of friendship and altruism in greater detail. I give particular attention to Stoic views on the nature of friendship, the relationship between friendship and virtue, and whether friendship is necessary for a good life. I then examine Augustine’s views of friendship and the relation between friendship and vice, including how friendship gives rise to disordered love, impedes practical reasoning, and serves as an occasion to sin.
