Friendship, self-knowledge, and core texts: a pathway for character education at university

In this chapter I argue that one way in which friendship contributes to moral growth is by means of developing self-knowledge. The chapter starts out with an explanation of the privileged space that friendship offers for the cultivation of character. Next, the chapter develops the connection between friendship and self-knowledge. Here, the chapter makes a distinction between self-knowledge on the psychological level, and self-knowledge on the anthropological level. The chapter then turns to an analysis of the two proposed core texts on friendship, Lewis' The Four Loves and Laín Entralgo's On Friendship, in order to articulate a pathway for character education at university.