‘Friendship’ in Political Thought and Psychotherapy
Subject Areas : Research in Theoritical PoliticsKeywords: friendship political thought psychotherapy,
Abstract :
Being normative, political thought suggests the best form of political system. In the history of thought, ‘friendship’ has been a vital concept among the others, functioning in the formation of ideal societies. However, changes in political thought in the modern time have lead to the marginalization of friendship. But in recent decades, the notion of friendship has been renewed in the form of such concepts as ‘solidarity’. Studying the thoughts of contemporary thinkers, we can find sciences like psychotherapy as a major contribution to this renewal. Due to Jurgen Habermas’ thoughts and Eric Fromm’s theory of ‘the Sane Society’, the insights of psychotherapy have been highly influential in bringing the concept of ‘friendship’ back to the center of attention of political thought.