yesterday i was thinking that it was kinda curious that he discussed consequentialist modes (hedonism, utilitarianism) and didn’t have separate categorizations revolving around duty, but then i realized it might be odd to speak of the primacy of obligation in presumably voluntary friendship
which is not to say he neglects it by any means, it features prominently and often all over the place, but typically role-based relationships (parental/familial, economic) and in discussions or virtues and their lack
i other words it’s hard for me to tell whom is the target of positive affect, there is simply positive affect. often i end up crystallizing focus into several discrete individuals tailored to their own particularities, but the impetus is rather undifferentiated
not to say that the causal chain can’t prominently feature a person that also receives the affection back in turn (in addition to other inspired recipients), that paired with compersion are of course the two classic illustrations of the falsity of love scarcity
just that that case is one among many circumstances that can give rise to fondness of heart, and that the reciprocity may be more due to pragmatic proximity than meets the eye
whatever virtues there are in mythical unreflective homeric life, that doesn’t mean they’d make for very pleasant company; this is analogous to the modern software developer