A new book by Dr Neil Durrant, Executive Director of the Faculty of Arts and Adjunct Fellow in the Department of Philosophy, explores friendship through the eyes of German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche.

Nietzsche’s Renewal of Ancient Ethics: Friendship as Contest connects the different concepts of well-known 19th century German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, to outline a unique interpretation of friendship that is a recurring theme in Nietzsche’s ethics. The concept of a ‘higher friendship’, as analysed by Dr Durrant in his book, argues that contest, often experienced through opposition, is essential to developing strong friendships with other people.

Dr Durrant traces the history of the concept of a ‘higher friendship’ back to the ancient Greek ideal of the Homeric hero, in which neither person in a friendship attempts to dominate the other but rather embraces and promotes their differences in order to prompt stronger and more productive contests. The essence of contest is that, through this kind of engagement with each other, new standards of human excellence can be discovered. This allows both parties, win or lose, to walk away from the contest with a better understanding of what’s possible, both for themselves and for the other person.

Dr Durrant claims that Nietzsche’s ideal of higher friendship involves an interaction between friends that transcends love and compassion. The book explores how a higher friendship is potentially more intimate than other forms of relationships, including love relationships, as it has the ability to incorporate the totality of an individual’s life – all their experiences, emotions and behaviours— and use adversaries to flourish instead of diminish.

By understanding the role of enmity and opposition in true friendships, our notion of what is good and ethical is also expanded in the process.

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Nietzsche’s Renewal of Ancient Ethics: Friendship as Contest is published by Bloomsbury.