St. Thomas Aquinas – Olavo de Carvalho

An Introduction To The Online Philosophy Seminar

on March 30, 2020April 11, 2020 By Olavo de Carvalho

An Introduction To The Online Philosophy Seminar Olavo de Carvalho • March 2008 I am going to provide you with an outline of the general program of the Philosophy Seminar, a course which will last for approximately five years. Keep in mind that this program, which I will delineate here in a rather vague manner, [...]

“St. Thomas Aquinas defined friendship in the following terms: idem velle, et idem nolle, that is, your friend is the person who wants the same things you want and rejects the same things you reject. If you cannot find a group that identifies with your objectives and values, you will obviously be isolated among other people, who will be either strange or hostile to you. (…) Aristotle considered friendship to be the basis of a polity. Friendship is not a “political” phenomenon in the sense that we currently understand politics; but nevertheless, if there were no human tendency to form groups united through friendship, through the commonality of objectives and values, no political society would ever be possible. Friendship is also one of the pillars upon which our personality is built. If you do not find adequate friends, who share values with you, you will end up associating yourself with other groups, which will offer you support and friendship in exchange for your own corruption, your relinquishing your own values and making useless and abject sacrifices before the altar of a false friendship.” — Olavo de Carvalho, Philosophy Online Course, Lecture 1.