L'amicizia si dà e si pensa in molti modi

This essay aims to show that friendship is a plural relationship, which cannot but be described and thought of in many ways. The first paragraph discloses that friendship relationships have been the subject of continuous and increasing attention since the early 1980s. By examining the most relevant friendship studies, the second paragraph analyse some ancient, modern, and current notions of friendship. On the one hand, it points out that ancient thinkers such as Aristotle, Cicero, and Plutarch described friendship as a political relationship, but attributed it different political functions.

On the other hand, it clarifies that the form of private friendship typical of the modern age involves bonds which require friends to blend their souls and hearts, but also less extraordinary ties in which the emotional connection between friends is not as absolute as Montaigne (and Rousseau) desired. The analysis of the ancient and modern friendships allows for a better understanding of some contemporary forms of political and private friendship, namely those examined in the essays by Carla Danani, Bénédicte Sère, and Sibyl Schwarzenbach. The references to Bacon's Essays made in the third and last paragraph permit to illuminate another contemporary friendship, very common but still unexplored. [Publisher's text]