Political Friendship. Critical Study and Current Perspectives of a Classic Category

Abstract

This study aims to reconstruct thoroughly the Thomist notion of ‘amicitia politica’, and seeks to ex­plore its triple constitutive reference : the practice of friendship, the order of justice, the theo­logical reference to the virtue of charity. The result is a highly topical concept, articulated into specific virtues that give practical effectiveness and provide the ethical component of common good, that is, what law alone is unable to ensure, although the life of the community largely depends just on it.