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and one of these persons may also entertain the same feeling towards
him. Here then we have a case of two people mutually well-disposed, whom nevertheless we
cannot speak of as friends, because they are not aware of each other's regard. To be
friends therefore, men must (1) feel goodwill for each other, that is,
wish each other's good, and (2) be aware of each other's goodwill, and
(3) the cause of their goodwill must be one of the lovable qualities
mentioned above. 3.
Now these qualities differ in kind; hence the affection or friendship they occasion may
differ in kind also. There are accordingly three kinds of friendship, corresponding in
number to the three lovable qualities; since a reciprocal affection, known to either
party, can be based on each of the three, and when men love each other, they wish each
other well in respect of the quality which is the ground of their friendship.1 Thus friends whose affection is based on utility do
not love each other in themselves, but in so far as some benefit accrues to them from each
other. And similarly with those whose friendship is based on pleasure: for instance, we
enjoy the society of witty people not because of what they are in themselves, but because
they are agreeable to us. 3.
[2]
Hence in a friendship based on utility or on pleasure men love their friend for their
own good or their own pleasure, and not as being the person loved, but as useful or
agreeable. And therefore these friendships are based on an accident, since the friend is
not loved for being what he is, but as affording some benefit or pleasure as the case may
be. 3.
[3]
Consequently
friendships of this kind are easily broken off,
1 i.e., they wish each other to become more virtuous, pleasant, or useful as the case may be; so that there is a different species of will-wishing in each case.