What are friends for?

Ever since Plato explored friendship (philia) in his dialogue Lysis, philosophers have contemplated the meaning of this all-important relationship, how to create it, and why it breaks down. For most of us, life would be inconceivable without the affection and support of friends – those people who recognise us for who we are at a fundamental level and who thereby enable us to flourish. But, as Aristotle observed, there are many kinds of friends, some good, some bad, some merely useful. Friendships are complicated, even contradictory. And though not all friendships are made to last we could hardly go through life without them. Join us for an evening examining the history and nature of this surprisingly strange relationship, with the philosopher Mark Alfano in conversation with ABC Radio National’s Natasha Mitchell, alongside captivating musical contributions from celebrated composer/trumpeter Peter Knight and South Korean vocalist Sunny Kim.

This event is presented in partnership with ABC Radio National’s Big Ideas.

Mark Alfano

Speaker

Mark Alfano is professor of philosophy at Macquarie University. He has been a postdoctoral fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study and the Princeton University Center for Human Values. Mark’s work is interested in social epistemology, moral psychology, and exploring the characteristics of friendship as a moral virtue. His papers have appeared in numerous journals, including Philosophical Quarterly, Mind, Journal of the American Philosophical Association, The Monist, Erkenntnis, Synthese, and the British Journal for the History of Philosophy. His published work includes Character as Moral Fiction (2013), Moral Psychology: An Introduction (2016) and Nietzsche’s Moral Psychology (2019).

Peter Knight and Sunny Kim

Artists

Peter Knight is a composer and trumpeter whose practice thrives in the spaces between genres, disciplines, and cultures. He composes for film and performance, and his solo and collaborative work extends the possibilities of his instrument with approaches that interweave acoustic preparations with electroacoustic processing. Sunny Kim is a South Korean-born vocalist, composer, and improviser whose journey spans Seoul, New York, and now Melbourne, where she continues to make her mark in contemporary music. Known for her deep exploration of culture, identity, and connection through sound, she has released six albums, with four earning nominations for Best Jazz Record at the Korean Music Awards.

Peter and Sunny’s musical partnership began in 2009 when Peter was travelling through South Korea. The two quickly discovered a strong creative connection which developed into Bright Splinters, an ensemble that now performs internationally. The partnership continued when Peter became artistic director of the Australian Art Orchestra in 2013, a position he held for ten years, and invited Sunny to participate in several of their projects.

Peter can be found on instagram at @phjknight and Sunny can be found on instagram at @sunnykimmusic.

Natasha Mitchell

Host

Natasha Mitchell is a multi-award-winning journalist, radio presenter, and podcaster. She is host of the ABC Radio National’s Big Ideas program and podcast, and was founding host and producer of the blockbuster radio show All in the Mind which won the Grand Prize and four Gold World Medals at the New York Radio Festivals. Natasha hosted the ABC’s daily social affairs program Life Matters, and was founding host and producer of Science Friction, awarded Best Science and Medicine podcast at the Australian Podcast Awards. Natasha served as a board member and vice president of the World Federation of Science Journalists and was recipient of the prestigious MIT Knight Fellowship.