Category: Friendships

At the start of this series, I suggested the new year was a good time to re-evaluate your friendships for their value. This next post, the psychology of friendship –and the previous posts recapped below, can help you understand some of the barriers that men face in making friendships. These recent posts also set the tone for upcoming ones with examples of good friends in sports, literature, and entertainment. My hope is this series helps you see why friendships are important –especially for men, but also why GodBuddy friendships are the most-preferable type.  Series to-Date Let’s briefly recap where we are so far in the series.  The initial post titled New Year; New Types of Friends stated many people start the year resolving to change their bad habits or develop better ones. One I suggest is evaluating your relationship with family and friends. I described four types of friendships most people

This current series started with my initial post, New Year; New Types of Friends that suggests the turn of a calendar page is a great time to re-evaluate your friendships. To help you through that evaluation process, I now describe some history of friendships, some of which may even surprise you.  My hope is that this series will help you understand and overcome some of the barriers men have in making friendships. Later in this series, I’ll provide some examples of good friends in sports, literature, and entertainment. I’ll also wrap up the series with why good friends may not be beneficial —and why you need some GodBuddies to help you become a better man.  Ancient Theory of Friendships  My previous post on The Philosophy of Friendship explained that Aristotle distinguished three types of friendship in his Nicomachean Ethics: a friendship for utility, a friendship for non-sexual mutual pleasure, and a

My initial post for the New Year titled New Year; New Types of Friends suggests it is the perfect time to re-evaluate your friendships.  In my next two posts in this series, I provide the history and philosophy of friendships. Starting with the ancient philosophers, many have spoken about the philosophy of friendships. Since then, dozens of sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, and historians have written extensively about the need for humans to have friends. So let’s explore the early beliefs about friendships and the role they played at different times in history.  Ancient Philosophy of Friendship  Much of the early concepts for classical friendship came from philosophers in Greece and Rome who influenced the conduct of friends during the many centuries that followed. In ancient times, the philosophy of friendships included its social significance, moral basis, and the ethical rules it implied.  As I wrote in the initial post of this