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Do you consider "friendship" and "platonic relationship" synonyms?


LauraG

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Would you consider the phrase "platonic relationship" to be a synonym of "friendship"?

 

Do you consider all friendships to be platonic relationships?

 

Do you consider all platonic relationships to be friendships?

 

(I'm intentionally asking a question I know people are going to have different answers to. I'm curious what everyone's first instinct is!)

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they can be.  i'd say all friendships are platonic relationships but not all platonic relationships are friendships.  because 'relationship' can have different connotations.  on one hand, they may lack something friendships have, like closeness.  like how a professional relationship is one between colleagues, pro and client, etc. and a familial relationship is one between family members, even extended, and not necessarily a close or positive relationship.  so i might say an acquaintance and i have a platonic relationship, since it's not quite friendship but it's not any other type.  (i might refer to them as my friend for simplicity's sake.)  on the other hand, 'relationship' could be used in the sense of like 'being in a relationship,' like a qpr.  of course that's also difficult to define, but i believe we can pretty much agree it's different from friendship.  so someone might say "(qpp) and i are in a relationship; (friend) and i are not".  and that relationship may have something friendships tend to lack, like exclusivity, commitment, cohabitation, more physical affection...mostly things generally associated with romantic relationships, as i understand.  i will say that i have or want most of those things with my best friend but wouldn't call her my qpp because first of all, i don't consider the latter term to necessarily indicate higher importance than the former, and second, i don't think it matters what we call it, regardless.  but yeah, basically i consider 'platonic relationship' to describe a wider range of relationships than 'friendship'.

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9 hours ago, LauraG said:

Would you consider the phrase "platonic relationship" to be a synonym of "friendship"?

No.

 

9 hours ago, LauraG said:

Do you consider all friendships to be platonic relationships?

No.

 

9 hours ago, LauraG said:

Do you consider all platonic relationships to be friendships?

No.

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I think that friendships are a type of platonic relationship, but they aren't the only type. I wouldn't consider my professors/advisors my friends, for example. In the future I'd like a platonic partnership/QPR and wouldn't really call that a friendship either, because the circumstances would be different from what I'd normally expect with a friendship.

 

However, I will add that I believe friendship to be an important component for many relationships, both platonic and romantic. I would want my future QPP to also be my friend.

 

So I don't think that "platonic relationship" and "friendship" are synonymous.

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17 hours ago, LauraG said:

Would you consider the phrase "platonic relationship" to be a synonym of "friendship"?

For this one, no for sure. Family is a platonic relationship too. @aro_elise has a point too by mentioning colleagues, I didn't think about it but it works perfectly. Comrades, too. And probably other examples I am forgetting right now. Platonic is a larger term for me.

 

 

17 hours ago, LauraG said:

Do you consider all friendships to be platonic relationships?

Tricky one. I consider platonic as the opposite of romantic (and maybe of sexual too, but then there is the case of qpr that includes sex and that doesn't fit). In that sense, that would make all friendship platonic. But I heard about romantic friendships, so in that case all friendships aren't platonic. (and if we don't include sexual in platonic, then friends with benefit are not platonic friendships neither).

 

17 hours ago, LauraG said:

 

Do you consider all platonic relationships to be friendships?

As I say above, platonic relatinship is not synonym of friendship, so no.

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On 12/22/2019 at 11:21 PM, nonmerci said:

For this one, no for sure. Family is a platonic relationship too. @aro_elise has a point too by mentioning colleagues, I didn't think about it but it works perfectly. Comrades, too. And probably other examples I am forgetting right now. Platonic is a larger term for me.

I agree. But it's not always larger. For example I'd consider platonic non-sexual. While a friendship could involve sex.

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  • 2 weeks later...

"Would you consider the phrase "platonic relationship" to be a synonym of "friendship"?"

Not exactly? Truthfully I spent most of my life using the word 'platonic' to mean  'non-romantic' in an all-encompassing kind of way, not a specific kind of feeling or relationship (which is why I was initially confused by squishes, aplatonicism, and everything else talking about platonic attraction and the like). That's still how I initially think of it whenever it's used casually, but I try to keep in mind more the other ways people use the word. 

 

"Do you consider all friendships to be platonic relationships?"

Yes, generally speaking. I mean I also think a good romantic partner should also function as a friend, so probably it's more accurate to say my stance on that is somewhat in flux. But usually if someone refers to someone else as 'their friend' I assume it means platonic in one way or another.

 

"Do you consider all platonic relationships to be friendships?"

Not by my usual standard, since I also considered feeling 'neutral' or 'nothing' towards someone as being 'platonic' in the 'not romantic' sense, and people have platonic partners that they may not label as friends, though again this circles back to my apparently unclear/shifting definition/understanding of 'friendship' in the first place, since usually my standards for it are just general things any healthy relationship should have??? So I don't really get how other people talk about it a lot of the time. But I would also generally think of familial and work relationships as platonic. 

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On 12/25/2019 at 5:31 PM, Holmbo said:

I agree. But it's not always larger. For example I'd consider platonic non-sexual. While a friendship could involve sex.

The most common meaning of "platonic" is "non-sexual". About the only dictionary definition which mentions "non-romantic" is Merriam-Webster Which would rather imply that using it such way is an "Americanism".

 

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In American English, at least, I would distinguish between a Relationship, and a relationship... you have a relationship with your coworkers, your business contacts, your barista. You probably don't have a Relationship with them... 

A Relationship is one of the more primary relationships you have... so you can have a Relationship with your best friend...

Then again, as discussed above, it looks like the definition of "platonic" is also in question... so ... Language is hard? 

Yeah, I'm going to just say "language is hard" and leave it at a hard "maybe?".

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  • 8 months later...

Wait.. Platonic doesn't mean friendship?? Then what is the attraction type for wanting to be friends with someone? 

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Would you consider the phrase "platonic relationship" to be a synonym of "friendship"?

Not at all

Do you consider all friendships to be platonic relationships?

It depend on your definition of platonic. For some it mean without romance, for others it mean without sex , or both and i personally don't always know what they're talking about. But i think i can't tell peoples what to feel, so i can't give a definite answer.

Do you consider all platonic relationships to be friendships?

No, whatever your definition of platonic is. Friends with sex, sex without friendship, or even just aqcuitence i would not call my friends. Familly too.

Edited by Guest
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My understanding of the definition of "platonic" is that it refers to close, intimate, or loving friendship, that is not sexual or romantic. So casual friendships would not necessarily be a platonic relationship. Another less strict definition of "platonic" is simply "without sex or romance".  You can have sexual relationships with friends, which would by definition not be platonic.

Edited by Rolo
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