This philosophical and sociological look at friendship and happiness begins with a review of Aristotle's three categories of friendship--friends of utility, friends of pleasure and friends of the good. Modern variations--casual friends, close friends, best friends--are described, along with the growing phenomena of virtual friendships and cyber socialization in the Internet age. Inspired in part by Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness, the authors propose that conquering unhappiness is key to achieving the self-satisfaction Russell called zest and Aristotle called eudaimonia or thriving by our own efforts.

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments

Preface

Part I-Friendship

1.¿Aristotle on Friendship

2.¿Forming a Friendship

3.¿Cyber Socialization: The Transitional Step Toward Electronic Friendships

4.¿Electronic Friendships

Part II-Happiness

5.¿Conquering Unhappiness

6.¿Eudaimonia: A Philosophical Look at Happiness

7.¿The Pursuit and Attainment of Happiness: A Sociological Look at Happiness

Conclusion: The Connection Between Friendship and Happiness

Bibliography

Index

Tim Delaney is a professor and department chair of sociology at the State University of New York at Oswego. He earned his BS in sociology from SUNY Brockport, MA degree in sociology from California State University Dominquez Hills, and a PhD in sociology from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. Delaney has published seventeen books to date and numerous book chapters, journal and encyclopedia articles and has been published in five continents. Among his book publications are, Classical and Contemporary Social Theory: Investigation and Application (2014), American Street Gangs, 2nd edition (2014) and Beyond Sustainability: A Thriving Environment (2014, co-authored with Tim Madigan). Professor Delaney is listed as a "media expert" and regularly grants interviews with newspapers, radio and television news programs primarily across the United States and Canada.