Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T06:59:54.997Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - Special Obligations in Long-Standing Friendships

from Part II - Ageing and Morality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2022

C. S. Wareham
Affiliation:
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Get access

Summary

One of the great joys and benefits of ageing is the possibility of being in very long-term friendships – such friendships, by their very nature, are not available to the young. These friendships ground strong reciprocal special obligations. Such long-term friends have very strong obligations to care for each other as they age and as they become vulnerable as a result of declining mental and/or physical strength. These long-standing intimate relationships, insofar as they ground strong special obligations, are precisely what a friend ought to be thinking about as she is moved to care for her friend. Thus, in thinking about a duty, one is thereby thinking about the valuable relationship that has bound one to one’s friend over an important and extended portion of one’s life. Acting from a special obligation to a long-term friend is to act in precisely the right sort of caring way.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×