Lasch

[Amy Z]

Rita wrote:

>I think friendship probably starts with enjoying each other's company 
>(which would be why
>Christopher Lasch, in the only one of his books that I ever read (it was
>LOATHSOME) condemned friendship as being a form of 'narcissism', as
>opposed to hanging out with and helping relatives or neighbors whom
>detest but hang out with and help out of duty -- talking about
>'enjoyment' DOES make it sound like hedonism).

Oy vey.  Does Lasch think =everything= is narcissistic?  He's been on my 
"must read" list for years now, but this snippet is a major turnoff.

No s*** friendship is about enjoyment.  Heck, let's jump right into the 
hedonist pool and say that it's about pleasure.  I spend time with friends, 
as opposed to spending time fixing my neighbor's screen door, because I like 
them and take pleasure in their company.  "Pleasure=hedonism" and "things 
done primarily for oneself=narcissism" both seem like very sloppy philosophy 
to me, the kinds of statements that would have gotten me acres of marginal 
comments from the prof (not complimentary ones) if I'd tried them out in a 
paper for philosophy class.

Kant started all this trouble when he pointed out that doing something 
meritorious that you don't personally enjoy is better than doing something 
meritorious that you like doing anyway.  Lesser minds shouldn't get a hold 
of ideas like that.

Amy Z
feeling curmudgeonly, but not half so curmudgeonly as Lasch
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