So how is that not captured by the idea of a natural bond of friendship? The

idea of a natural bond of friendship would be the idea that just the good nature of the act of helping some one move house justifies the obligation of friendship, help them move house. Now it's certainly true that the fact that it's a good thing to do to some one, to help them out, makes some sense of their having an obligation. But there are many good things we could do which we are not obliged to do. When it comes to most people, i have no obligation to help them move house. But somehow i have this special connection with this guy, which means i have to abandon my family for a sunday afternoon and go and inconveniently help him move house. So we got to have a further story about why i should be bound to do that, which is not just about the fact it's a nice thing to do. Caudn't

i just explain this as an artificial duty in the sense that i've become friends with somebody and imp yi've taken on all these obligations. Theyare artificial in the same sense of driving on the left or the right. And it could have been i've made friends with somebody else, but i've just got this sort of social expectation set up because of the kind of culture i live in. And these are the artificial obligations i've put myself under by becoming friends with some one. Good.

I think there's some truth in that. Friendship is a conventional thing. I'm friend with youtes, let's say, because we've got into the habit of seeing each other anda giving each other birthday presents and phone calls and so on. And this is a conventional thing, and the general character of friendship is conventional as well. That's true. But i think it's rather different from the case of driving on the left hand side of the road. Because there, when we're thinking about driving on the left hand side of the road, it's just about getting a certain effect, ensuring that everyone can go safely along the road. And it doesn't really matter how we get that effect. Whereas in the case of friendship, it's not just about arranging for people to be able to move house some way or other. We could do that in various ways, but the idea is there's something specially good about doing it by making these connections between people, including these bonds of loyalty, that that has a value in itself, over and above the help and support it organizes.