Final answer:
The author would likely claim that true friends are those who resonate with the Aristotelian ideal of being equals who accept and validate you, contributing to personal growth and mutual happiness. Therefore the correct answer is D. True friends are equals who accept and validate you..
Step-by-step explanation:
Based on the Aristotelian view of friendship, the author would most likely assert that true friends are those who help in fostering our virtuous development. Drawing from Aristotle's work, a true friend would be an individual who enables us to contemplate virtuous actions, including those of the friend as though they were our own, accentuating the nature of a friend as 'another self.' Such a friendship entails a mutual desire for the good of one another for the sake of the other, transcending mere utility or pleasure that characterizes incidental friendships.
Additionally, perfect friendships, as described by Aristotle, also contribute positively to our personal development and happiness because we get to experience the happiness of our friends as if it were our own. With this in mind, the author would likely argue that True friends are equals who accept and validate you, resonates more accurately with the Aristotelian ideal. This is because these friends genuinely wish what is good for us and provide perspectives that support our growth and flourishing, similar to the 'greatest of external goods' that Aristotle identified.