ABSTRACT
Friendship is preferential while agape is universal, friendship is reciprocal while agape is selfless, friendship is loyalty to a person while agape is fidelity to a higher law. Meilaender finds the philosophical problems raised by such tensions in Greek and Roman texts on friendship, as well as in Christian writings. He finds the philosophical problems raised by such tensions in Greek and Roman texts on friendship, as well as in Christian writings. There is also an interesting parallel here with problems raised by modern secular ethics. It is hard to square the universalistic, principled, and rational character of utilitarian and Kantian ethics, for example, with the preferential, reciprocal, and loyal character of friendship. Friendships based on principle are not very satisfying. Neither are acts of love done out of respect for the moral law. Cooper points out that family relationships are in fact the original and, in some ways, the central cases of friendship.
