Friendship Is The Source Of The

From the Summa Contra Gentiles (Book III), this reflects Thomas Aquinas's sustained engagement with Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, particularly Aristotle's claim that the happy person needs friends (Ethics IX.9). Aquinas deepens the argument theologically: friendship is not merely pleasant but perfects the human person by directing them toward others in an act of genuine good will (benevolentia). In his synthesis, natural friendship points beyond itself toward charity — the supernatural friendship with God that constitutes the ultimate human end. The Summa Contra Gentiles was composed c. 1259–65.