Abstract

Aristotle thinks that "true friendships" are very rare. Because unself-centered goodwill is, on Aristotle's view, a feature peculiar to such friendships, it is also rare. Marx agrees with Aristotle that most of our relationships with others are self-centered. For him man's egoistic attitude toward others is an alienated attitude. I begin my discussion by considering the conditions Aristotle thinks necessary for true friendship, and thus for the presence of active goodwill. I then argue that the various phenomena Marx describes as alienated are properly construed as aspects of the alienation of man from man. Humans not alienated from one another would cease to treat each other solely as means. This is not the view that they would be altruistic, but rather the view that they would not only take an interest in the interests of others insofar as those interests serve as a means to the promotion of their own interests. Marx, of course, thinks that a change in economic system would engender a change in people's attitudes. Unself-centered goodwill would be pervasive in such a society. I argue that the degree to which unself-centered goodwill is possible is better understood by a consideration of the conditions of friendship. On Aristotle's view, trust, love, knowledge, among other things, are necessary for the existence of goodwill. I argue that some of these conditions can be met by people who are not friends such that non-friends can have the kind of goodwill toward one another necessary for an unalienated society