If you’ve been regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed that I used to have some pages dedicated to collecting quotes that I liked on various subjects, like religion, politics, science, or whatever. You may also notice that those pages are absent now, as I’ve deleted them.
I have decided to just post quotes as normal blog entries instead of using pages, which is something else regulars would have noticed. In my zeal to create the original quote pages, though, I added a few to the list that didn’t exactly deserve to be there for one reason or another. Normally I’ve been reposting quotes here because I like them, but this one… not so much.
C. S. Lewis
“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”
Where the hell did Lewis come up with that one? Friendship has no survival value?
I wonder how a soldier would feel about that! “Hey, Marine, would you rather be up against the enemy with a bunch of your comrades or all by yourself?” Wonder what he’d say?
Really, I find this quote to be kind of depressing. Considering how famous he is, I would expect Lewis to at least demonstrate basic intellectual competence. And yet he goes off and says something stupid like that.
What makes this worse, is if he’s making the argument I think he is: “since friendship has no survival value it couldn’t originate through evolution, and since people have features that couldn’t have originated through evolution, then they must have been specially created.” Give me a friggin’ break.
I hope I’m just being paranoid. That could very well be the case, that little quote is short and apparently only part of a passage, as the ellipsis indicates. But I’ve heard that argument before, so it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what Lewis was driving at.
Anyway, taking that assumption and running with it, I’d like to respond to the idea. Friendship, a feeling of fondness aimed at another person. A simplistic definition, but would you agree that that’s the gist of the idea? Okay, now think about a stranger, you don’t know them, you don’t have any fondness for them, but you also have no reason to dislike them either.
Abyssal wonders…
Would you be more likely to share food with in a time of famine with your friend or some stranger, who for all you know could be waiting to kill you in your sleep?
Still have that image? Good. Now, imagine your best friend standing next to Stranger. Who would you be more likely to share food with in a time of famine, your friend, who you share a bond of friendship with, or, some stranger, who for all you know could be waiting to kill you in your sleep?
Who are you more likely to risk your life for to help if he’s being attacked? On the flip side, do you think Stranger is more likely than your friend to offer you shelter if your house burnt down?
Seeing that when it comes down to the brass tacks, having friends can affect your ability to acquire the basic necessities; food, safety, water, shelter, and all the rest. Now when you reflect on this, can it really be sanely asserted that friendship offers “no survival value,” and that there would be no evolutionary advantage given?
More info can be found at Wikipedia’s article on altruism.
