ABSTRACT
This chapter develops that connection by considering friendship as a vital way of constructing philosophical practice as a means of enabling wisdom. Philosophy is that part of the academy that should more than any other subject provide a space for the critical engagement with thought; but it also promises more than that, for it offers a space for thinking explicitly about how our thought enables the development of wisdom. Sure, wisdom is developed in the context of friendship, a perspective to which Plato draws attention in his Symposium. While pursuing friendship suggests grounding philosophical practice in relationship, it also suggests a vision of the university that could not be further from the economic concerns which currently shape it. Paying attention to the role of friendship in the practice of philosophy suggests a vision of the subject that does not disconnect it from the totality of life, nor from the practice of living.
