abstract: The discussion of friendship in Eudemian Ethics VII is often taken as evidence that Aristotle relies on dialectic in this treatise. I argue that, although he uses some dialectical resources, these are insufficient for fully developing his account of friendship. His approach has four features: the arguments are philosophical, aiming at the nature and truth of friendship; he appeals to phainomena , including both endoxic and non-endoxic claims; resolving aporiai requires substantive philosophical knowledge; and, guided by epistemic optimism, he seeks to preserve what is true in existing beliefs. This contrasts with dialectical argument, which reasons from endoxic premises without aiming at endoxic conclusions.
Nevim Borçin (Tue,) studied this question.