The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Friendship is a superb compilation of chapters that explore the history, major topics, and controversies in philosophical work on friendship. It gives both the advanced scholar and the novice in the field an overview and also an in-depth exploration of the connections between friendship and the history of philosophy, morality, practical rationality, value theory, and interpersonal relationships more generally.
The Handbook consists of 31 newly commissioned chapters by an international slate of contributors, and is divided into six sections:
I. Historical Perspectives
II. Who Can Be Our Friends?
III. Friendship and Other Relationships
IV. The Value and Rationality of Friendship
V. Friendship, Morality, and Virtue
VI. New Issues in Philosophy of Friendship
This volume is essential reading not only for anyone interested in the philosophical questions involving friendship, but also for anyone interested in related topics such as love, sex, moral duties, the good life, the nature of rationality, interpersonal and interspecies relationships, and the nature of the person.