Book IX Summary and Analysis

Aristotle continues his description of friendship, spelling out several attributes of friendship and examining the proper actions in relation to friendship. He first describes friendships where each person has a different type of friendship with the other. If, for instance, a person has a friendship based on pleasure with a lover, but the lover is basing the friendship on usefulness. These friendships cannot last. They are based on each person expecting something and not receiving it.

There are also conflicts that arise between a person and his friends in his other relations. Aristotle asks if a person, when presented with the possibility to do a good turn to someone, should choose his friend over someone else who is perhaps more deserving. He adds another puzzle asking whether, if we have the money to repay a debt, it is better...