Friendship, politics, and Augustine’sconsolidation of the self

Friendship plays a central role in Augustine’s thought. It also played acrucial role in structuring the political and social world of the ancient Greeks.Augustine’s treatment of friendship, especially in his Confessions, retains some of theterminology that was central to the Greek account, but it simultaneously transformsfriendship, and with it the relationship between individual and community.Augustine’s formulation of the inner life is reflected in his transformation offriendship, which loses its inherently social character and political dimension evenas it sets the stage for the introduction of political thinking based on the primacyof the individual