Aristotle made friendship the bond of the state and enmity its chief danger

Evidence

Aristotle suggests that faction is enmity, that is to say, it is what lawgivers “are most anxious to banish.” On the other hand, Aristotle writes, “friendship,” philia, “appears to be the bond of the state; and lawgivers seem to set more store by it than they do by justice, for to promote concord,” homonoia, “which seems akin to friendship, is their chief aim, while faction,” stasis, “which is enmity,” echthra, “is what they are most anxious to banish. And if men are friends, there is no need of justice between them.” — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 384

Categorization

• XREF: The internal-enmity-as-faction frame anticipates the later shift where the enemy is located inside the polity-a move the antisemitism-Islamophobia bridge depends on.