Dive into the nuances of friendship, exploring everything from Aristotle's insights to Montaigne's powerful connections. The hosts reflect on their own bond and the emotional challenges that accompany deep friendships. They tackle the misconceptions around male friendships and how social media affects our connections today. The discussion also encompasses the healing power of genuine friendships and their role in personal growth, offering a thought-provoking look at this essential part of life.
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Our Friendship Story
Ellie and David met in grad school and later started their podcast, Overthink, together.
Their friendship has highs and lows, becoming intimate, philosophical, and work-related.
insights INSIGHT
Friendship Scripts
Society lacks social scripts for friendship, unlike romance.
This makes it hard to know how to be a good friend or handle conflicts.
insights INSIGHT
The Secrets View
Lawrence Thomas's "secrets view" defines friendship as mutual self-disclosure.
It involves sharing secrets and trusting the other person not to reveal them.
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The Nicomachean Ethics is Aristotle's most renowned work on ethics, focusing on the science of the good for human life. The text is divided into ten books and discusses the concept of eudaimonia, often translated as 'happiness' or 'flourishing,' which is achieved through living a virtuous life. Aristotle argues that eudaimonia is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue, emphasizing the importance of reason, moral virtues, and the pursuit of excellence. The work also explores the division of the soul, the role of rationality in human life, and the ultimate goal of human activity, which is to achieve happiness through virtuous actions and a complete life[1][2][4].
Friendship
The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond
Lydia Denworth
In this book, Lydia Denworth delves into the science of friendship, exploring its evolution, biological underpinnings, and psychological significance. She discusses how friendship is reflected in brain waves, detectable in genomes, and crucial for strengthening cardiovascular and immune systems. The book also examines how social connection is vital for physical and emotional well-being, contrasting it with the detrimental effects of loneliness. Denworth weaves together field biology, neuroscience, and contemporary observations to show how friendship is essential across life stages and how it is evolving in the age of social media.
Friendship
The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond
Lydia Denworth
In this book, Lydia Denworth delves into the science of friendship, exploring its evolution, biological underpinnings, and psychological significance. She discusses how friendship is reflected in brain waves, detectable in genomes, and crucial for strengthening cardiovascular and immune systems. The book also examines how social connection is vital for physical and emotional well-being, contrasting it with the detrimental effects of loneliness. Denworth weaves together field biology, neuroscience, and contemporary observations to show how friendship is essential across life stages and how it is evolving in the age of social media.
Aristotle on Making Other Selves
Aristotle on Making Other Selves
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Elijah Milgram
The Character of Friendship
The Character of Friendship
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Lawrence Thomas
Even with endless social scripts around romance, we hardly know what it means to be a good friend. In episode 114 of Overthink, Ellie and David reflect on the highs and lows of friendship, from their own bond to Montaigne’s intimate connection to Étienne de La Boétie. From Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics to today’s loneliness epidemic, they question what friends do, how they hold each other accountable, and the deep ways in which our vices and virtues are shaped by our friends. Plus, in the bonus, they talk Ralph Waldo Emerson, intimacy, dyadic relationships, high school friends, and… pluralectics?
Works Discussed Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics Francis Bacon, “Of Friendship” Lydia Denworth, Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bond Elijah Milgram, “Aristotle on Making Other Selves” Michel de Montaigne, “Of Friendship” Lawrence Thomas, “The Character of Friendship”
Overthink 
