Friendship in a Community

In Book 8, Aristotle made it very clear that the most complete type of friendship is one between people who are good and alike in virtue. "But the complete sort of friendship is that between people who are good and are alike in virtue, since they wish for good things for one another in the same way insofar as they are good, and they are good in themselves" Chapter 3, 1156b 10. Therefore, friendships based on pleasure or use are of lesser value. "So those who love one another for what is useful do not love one another for themselves, but insofar as something good comes to them from one another. And it is similar with those who love on account of pleasure, since they are fond of charming people not for being people of a certain sort, but because they are pleasing to themselves" Chapter 3, 10.

Now in regards to a community, like a large nation, friendship of the good is basically impossible on a large scale. This leaves the friendships of use and pleasure, the ones that you do not want to strive for, the only types to strive for. This is not as bad as one might think. For instance, if a large nation is under siege, not every soldier is going to have a friendship of the good with their comrades. They will, or should, have a friendship of use and pleasure with all of their comrades. Their friendships are ones of use and pleasure because all of the soldiers use each other in order to defend their nation, with the goal of having pleasure in victory. The downside is if the soldiers fail at defending their nation, their friendship of use and pleasure is shot to pieces, along with many other things. The upside is if they survive and successfully defend their nation, the soldiers' friendship can easily become a friendship of the good. What started out as a friendship based on use and pleasure for the sake of their nation between soldiers, can lead to a lifelong friendship of the good.