A Friend Being Good and One’s Own in Nicomachean Ethics 9.9

Abstract

This paper reconsiders Aristotle’s arguments in Nicomachean Ethics 9.9 concerning the claim that a virtuous friend is naturally desirable. The paper demonstrates that a virtuous friend, according to Aristotle, is naturally desirable not only because he is good, but also because he is one’s own. Although the two are different ways of being desirable, the paper shows that Aristotle takes being one’s own to consist in a distinctive kind of being good. This enables him to extend the grounds of virtue-friendship beyond the good character narrowly conceived, and thus explain why a friend is preferable to other virtuous people.