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{Bookshelf Recommendation}
Cicero on Friendship, Politics & Philosophy
Cicero is an oddity in the annals of political philosophy. He was a genuine philosopher who also practiced politics. Cicero’s On Friendship is a justly celebrated work on the important role of friendship of virtue to a “free way of life” (vivere libero). Although he is often known for and credited with introducing Platonism to Rome, his work on friendship and its importance to civic republicanism is an attempt to connect Roman politics to the thought of Aristotle, who devotes two books in the Ethics to the virtue of friendship. Cicero devoted his life to inspiring his fellow citizens to moral virtue through his writings, speeches, and example. On Friendship focuses on friendship’s importance to civic republicanism by emphasizing its capacity to foster habits of fairness and mutual respect. Friendships centered on moral virtue promote civic cohesion by encouraging a public respect of good character, and encourages personal responsibility by counteract selfishness, as friends devoted to moral virtue hold each other accountable and embody a concern for the public good in their actions. For these and many other reasons, friendships of virtue generate the virtues and character necessary for a free society.
Cicero was devoted to Roman politics and lived at a time of great political crisis and civil war. He lived during the period in which Rome transitioned from a republic to an empire, a transition so important to the history of Rome that it is the subject of Shakespeare’s great play, Julius Caesar, in which Cicero makes a brief though important appearance. His short work on friendship (De Amicitia) is a classic and history has conferred upon Cicero the credited for shaping the civic republican humanist period in which we see a revival in the importance of friendship to politics. Machiavelli was forced to confront it in his work on Rome (The Discourses), and Hobbes followed Machiavelli by indirectly challenging some of its main themes.
Khalil Habib, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College with a joint appointment in The Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship. Views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the McConnell Center.
This recommendation is part of the McConnell Center's Meditations publication series, which features the center's educational resources in a monthly e-newsletter. Content includes a great books podcast series hosted by McConnell Center Director Gary Gregg, book recommendations, student research and writing, and notable lectures available in video format. Subscribe
Khalil Habib, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College with a joint appointment in The Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship. Views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the McConnell Center.
This recommendation is part of the McConnell Center's Meditations publication series, which features the center's educational resources in a monthly e-newsletter. Content includes a great books podcast series hosted by McConnell Center Director Gary Gregg, book recommendations, student research and writing, and notable lectures available in video format. Subscribe