Good Breeding

Friendship is a “challenge,” everyone says—and so it is. It generally doesn’t come without some effort. Anderson tartly notes that people speak of “losing contact” with friends; they seldom speak of “neglecting” them. But if they were to avoid their parents for an extended period, or forget to feed the dog for a few days, could they plead that they had merely, simply “lost contact”? Friendship requires a certain “moral literacy,” as Anderson insists; and a society that lacks it will be one in which friendship is hurting.

This is a relatively short book, but the author covers an impressive amount of ground. He examines how friendship is faring in business, in the universities, and in the professions, and among all classes. He devotes a chapter to the theological obstacles and aids to friendship. He calls on a wide cast of characters— Seneca, Shakespeare, Dr. Johnson—not to show off, but for genuine illumination. He laments that our age has “marginalized” friendship, leaving it as a “private pursuit,” when it can perform so much public good. Above all, he would like to restore friendship to its former level of importance, to provoke “thought and explicit comment” on the subject—on “the love whose name is seldom spoken” (as he says).

DS

About the Author

Dan Seligman

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Friendship is a “challenge,” everyone says—and so it is. It generally doesn’t come without some effort. Anderson tartly notes that people speak of “losing contact” with friends; they seldom speak of “neglecting” them. But if they were to avoid their parents for an extended period, or forget to feed the dog for a few days, could they plead that they had merely, simply “lost contact”? Friendship requires a certain “moral literacy,” as Anderson insists; and a society that lacks it will be one in which friendship is hurting.

This is a relatively short book, but the author covers an impressive amount of ground. He examines how friendship is faring in business, in the universities, and in the professions, and among all classes. He devotes a chapter to the theological obstacles and aids to friendship. He calls on a wide cast of characters— Seneca, Shakespeare, Dr. Johnson—not to show off, but for genuine illumination. He laments that our age has “marginalized” friendship, leaving it as a “private pursuit,” when it can perform so much public good. Above all, he would like to restore friendship to its former level of importance, to provoke “thought and explicit comment” on the subject—on “the love whose name is seldom spoken” (as he says).