THE MEANING OF FRIENDSHIP A heavy burden is placed on
friendship. We turn to friends for our happiness. Some say they
trust friends more than family. And there are those who want to
marry their best friend – a very novel idea. Then, in the
networked age, we believe, or hope, that friendship is elastic
enough to connect us across the web of complex lives, and strong
enough not to snap. But is it? For whilst friendship offers
much, few ask about its perils and limitations, as well as its
promise. Mark Vernon examines the love shared by friends,
linking the rich insights of the great philosophers of
friendship with numerous illustrations from modern life to ask
about friendship and sex, friends at work, the politics of
friendship, and its spirituality. In this new version of his
book, previously published as The Philosophy of Friendship, he
explores how notions of friendship may be changing because of
the internet. He also has a new chapter on self-help and
friendship, challenging notions of friendship that aris