Prerequisites for social friendship. Contemplation and fundamental attitude as foundational aspects of political community
Prerequisites for social friendship. Contemplation and fundamental attitude as foundational aspects of political community

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to shed some light on how spiritual friendship (the deepest form of friendship that necessarily implies contemplation) is a prerequisite of ‘social friendship’ – the key to any good politics. I elucidate two essential aspects of this relationship between friendship and politics: disposition (or, attitude) and reflection in terms of contemplation. The required attitude – a deeper concept than disposition – for any friendship is benevolence. I argue, along with Pfänder, that there are different kinds and grades of dispositions that can be distinguished from attitudes. Furthermore, I point out (with reference to Scheler’s analysis) that a fundamental attitude (‘Grundgesinnung’) exists, and I describe the nature of the possibilities inherent to it. In the second part, I introduce the notion of ‘Besinnung’ with its three variations of reflection, meditation and contemplation. Finally, I argue that there is an essential relationship between the highest form of benevolence (as the manifestation of the positive fundamental attitude) and the highest form of the contemplation of friendship. Penetrating into these two phenomena both intellectually and existentially, one might better understand the gift of friendship. In friendship, the other person reveals themselves not only as this specific person, but also as a person with the utmost clarity. I argue that without these fundamental insights, one can hardly imagine any just political community.

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