In Praise of Friendship… Among Other Things

Abstract

Preview: /Review: Michał Herer, In Praise of Friendship (Alresford, UK: Zero Books, 2021), 112 pages./ In this article I will try to discuss some thoughts presented by Michał Herer in his book In Praise of Friendship. I read it a couple of times and it certainly deserves both the Barbara Skarga prize and interest among young scholars and students of philosophy. However, it left me wanting more every time I read it. In the present text I would like to discuss some aspects of the essay and suggest some possible ways in which the ideas presented by Herer could be taken a little further. Although the below remarks are often critical, I do not want to write against Herer, but rather with him, following Annemarie Mol’s idea of discussion based on sisterhood rather than the conventional combative way, where the author in question is presented either as an “intellectual father,” an ally, or an enemy.