December 22, 2006
Derrida's The Politics of Friendship opens thus:
Oh my friends, there is no friend
How apt. My friends, no friend. The words are from Montaigne and they are attributed to Aristotle according to Diogenes Laertius based on a faulty translation. No matter, the remark has given rise to a tradition of texts and interpretations that connect friendship with the political.
The canonical interpretation speaks to friends: it addresses friends whilst telling them there are no friends. It opens up the possibility of another kind of friendship.
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