Response to Dr. Carron's Lecture

I am writing a reflection on the class from this last Thursday where Dr. Paul Carron discussed with the class Aristotle’s views on friendship. This was a particularly important reading for my own life right now as I am working hard on building relationships with the people around me. For the last year, I have been the student regent at Baylor. This has been the best experience of my life, but I have come to realize that I have not invested enough of my time in my relationships because of my increased busyness. What I really appreciate is how Aristotle speaks of how relationships add meaning to life. Dr. Carron did a really great job of working through the different types of relationships. I also really appreciated how he tied our discussion of Aristotle into biblical truths. Specifically, Matt. 22: 39 says, “’Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Christ says that this is the second greatest commandment of all. We are made to have relationships. Similarly, relationships are what bring the value and substance to our lives. Aristotle gives one of the best structures for a relationship that I have heard with his friends of goodness. I think it is very important to look at all of one’s friendships and determine if they are friends of utility, pleasure, or goodness. It is not that friends of utility or pleasure are bad. But rather that we must actively seek to move as many of our friendships as possible to the level of being friends of goodness.