The intimacy of love and friendship has not shielded them from the philosopher's gaze. As Epicurus demonstrates, philosophical reflection on friendship did not need to wait for what Charles Taylor calls the "affirmation of ordinary life." Much of that reflection, however, has examined the connection between private and public relationships, between friendship and the state. In the first two sections of this chapter, I consider how the Essays illuminate this relation. I return to the political intervention question and argue that Hume again provides grounds for thinking that government is ill-equipped to forward progress. His views contradict the ancient notion of a natural harmony between well-governed states and virtuous friendships.The last two sections consider what the Essays have to say about erotic love and the related topic of friendship across gender lines. In most respects, Hume's treatment of these issues itself constitutes progress, as he moves beyond the positions of both his predecessors and contemporaries. Nonetheless, I argue that in his treatment of homosexuality and, to a lesser degree, gender equality, he retards rather than encourages improvement.
. Friendship and the StateAristotle calls humans political animals. Perhaps we are. But we are also animals who love, bear children, cling to parents and offspring, sometimes cherish siblings, and form some of our strongest bonds with those not related to us at all. For Aristotle, there is no inherent tension here. The city is not the family, but the master art of politics orders all subservient arts, including those of friendships and the household. The administration of the polis is analogous to that of the household, and the relation between See Sources of the Self, Part III.
