ABSTRACT
The notion that the word philosophy derives from a combination of the words love (philia) and wisdom (sophia) is a very modern reading of the term. The root of philosophy is not eros or desire as we currently understand it, but rather a legal conception of friendship as the contract of belonging to a juridically defined group.1 The “philoi” or friends were members of a group relationship and consciousness, parties to an institution — a family, a city, a state. Philein or friend referred to a constitutional category, and to the membership of an established order. That philein also meant to kiss was symbolic again of a legal tie, of the kiss of brotherhood or peace (osculum pacis) by which members of the group marked their mutual recognition and faith. For Benveniste, a leading authority on the Indo-European roots of romance languages, the secondary meaning of kissing aptly depicted the way brothers were “made into contracting parties.”2 The law of wisdom, both constitution and contract, preceded and governed the desire of thought. Behind the figure of the philosopher thus lies the bond of law.
