MAIN PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPTS OF LOVE THROUGH (Western) HISTORY (concised version)
Table of Contents
b. Aristole (Philia) a. St. Paul (Agape)
b. St. Augustine (Caritas) a) Rousseau (modern romantic pair) a) Freud (Transference Love)
b) Nussbaum (Democratic Love)
Scientific Notions
*Mythology – soul mate (Aristophanes)*
Aristophanes speaks in Plato's Symposium of myth about twin souls who originally were composed together and as one being they had two heads, two sets of arms and legs, desirous halves seeking each other all around the world, what would happen if Hephaestus welded the soul mates together, made them meet again at last?
*Cosmology – love (philotes) and strife (neikos)* *(Empedocles)*
Empedocles Sphere, love, strife, exchange of the inflow of love and outflow of strife in the sphere, purification-catharsis, four stages of the formation of the world, breathing of the world, inflow and outflow as the metaphor of the circulation of blood: systole – diastole…)
* Philosophy – eros (Plato) and philia (Aristotle)*
*Plato* in Symposium recalls Diotima and claims that it is Diotima that thaught him about the concept of love that he speaks of: *eros*, desire, we desire what we do not have, love for self and other, climbing the ladder of love towards the sun of the eternally good, true and beautiful; one who loves is also good, true and honest. Alcibiades and Socrates between the sheets, where Socrates opposes Alcibiades so Alcibiades attributes to Socrates certain supernatural, satiric and silenic characteristics. Platonic love among friends – impersonal love, love at the level of soul and intellect, creativity, universal love where procreation takes place not at the physical but at the spiritual level, the level of creation of laws, works of art, political systems etc.
*Aristotle*: *philia* in Nichomachean Ethics, especially as the relationship between a husband and wife and their children; even more so between good or best friends, where philia is demonstrated as doing good to a friend for the sake of goodness itself and not for self-interest.)
*Christianity – agape (St. Paul) and caritas (St. Augustine)*
*St. Paul's agape* is self-sacrificing, uncalculating love, love is God, God is love, love as a gift, honesty-justice-love, love-faith-hope, love thyself as your neighbour, including your enemy, brotherhood and sisterhood, there should be, in principle, equality between a man, woman, stranger, neighbour...
Difference between *agape and eros* according to Nygren: eros – gainful, desirous and erotic, hedonistic, man must reach God and thus transcend himself and his humanity; agape – spiritual, spiritualised, cosmologic, universal, God is embodied for man.
*Augustin's *caritas* is combination of agape and eros. God is summum bonum, all mortal-created beings participate by the ultimate summum bonum, who is eternal, non-created, perfect and selfless.
*Art – courtly love (passionate knight/troubadour and lady)*
Unattainable lady, love outside the limits of contractual relationship between man and woman, love is established in itself, the feeling-emotion of love is also expressed by certain rhythmical wording – description, Tristan and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Cathar Code.)
*Enlightenment - romantic couple (Jean Jacques Rousseau) *
*Rousseau* in his epistolary novel Julie; or, the New Heloise resurrects the 'myth' about Romeo and Juliet, even more the evocation of the true story of renowned medieval philosopher Abelard who taught daughters from rich families, including Heloise, a wealthy, inquisitive niece of a rich man; when the latter found that Abelard, a teacher of lower class, fell in love with a wealthy town girl, he had him castrated while she retreated to a monastery out of revolt… well-known are their passionate, living and desirous letters that are deeply philosophical and reflective at the same time…
In his educational book Emile he presents a 'modern' romantic couple *Emile and Sophie*: the first known romantic couple whose union is based on love and independent of the social status, education, origin; their roles are assigned complementarily, based on a marital union in which two people help each other to the same extent as they love each other. Although Rousseau was aware of the deficiencies of inequality, he could not yet eliminate it.
*Modern – transference love (Sigmund Freud)*
*Freud's transference love* is about a relationship between parents determining relationship in adulthood, feeling-attitudes-relation to love being the same as the relation of parents to child..., in adulthood, this can be repeated or experienced as a deviation from it if the template was poor, unsatisfactory. How did Freud arrive at the idea of transference love? He noticed that his female clients would fall in love with him again and again; after a while, he realised that they did not actually fall in love with him, but merely transferred their emotions from childhood, their emotions of affection and attachment to the primary object of male gender, i.e. the father.
Freud, namely, reached the conclusion that a child is a sexual being, a polymorphic sexual being who may become attached to different subjects as well as partial objects, but who reaches sexual maturity only in adolescence by real sexual intercourse. One of the consequences of his finding is that adult relationships are so full of dissatisfaction because partners transfer their childhood expectations and desires to an adult-partner, who cannot really satisfy them because he or she is a different person than those involved in the primary relationship with mother and father. A grown-up partner is not one’s father or mother and cannot repeat/restore/evoke the love that someone experienced as a child with his or her parents. Modern interprets of this concept say that this false transference of love is the reason for so many unhappy, unsuccessful, dissatisfied marital relationships.
*Postmodern empathic, reciprocal and erotic love (Martha Craven Nussbaum)*
* Nussbaum* in Upheavals of Thought criticises Platonic and Augustinian love that rises in divine heights and sphere, claiming that such love is too often at the expense of the worldly love here and now with a specific person. What is more, she believes that the authors discussed suppress everything that is physical, sensual and emotional in order to reach the extrasensory sphere, the sphere of eternal and perfect love, the sphere of pure reason where all decisions are calculated with equanimity and without errors. The consequence of such orientation is often the deviation from our humaneness and humanity; a human being becomes a mere machine or a heartless statue that cares only for him or herself regardless of the consequences suffered by others, society and the environment. This is why Nussbaum wants to reintroduce empathy (identification with others) and compassion and respect for our fragile, vulnerable bodies, our emotions and sensuality (respect for human eroticism) into love; love should also include empathy, compassion and respect for others. Nussbaum thus points out our human characteristic of humanity, i.e. our bonds with other people as well as other beings, while stating that the recognition of our bodies, emotions, minds and spirits means the recognition of the uniqueness of each of us; she also advocates the respect for individuality, which, however, does not mean doing as one pleases: others are our limit of what is permissible and if we have love that encompasses empathy, compassion and individuality, we automatically practice mutuality and reparation, i.e. we try not to hurt the loved one, and if we do, we know how to identify with the pain of the other and rectify this by reparation.
*Contemporary scientific conception of love (biology, medical science)*
*Biology clearly distinguishes between love and sexuality. Love is not sexuality, as the function of sexuality is more or less limited to reproduction. At a higher level, sexuality may serve as a means of renewing a relationship, but without the same renewing and cohesive strength as love. Love functions as a link which makes partners stay together after sexual intercourse, with the aim of raising a child. Love that unites partners and children into a family serves, in the light of biology, as a safer, healthier and more prosperous environment for child raising; moreover, partners find life easier when they help and protect each other.
In medical science, love, enthusiasm and joy are linked to a strong immune system. When we love or are in love, our body emits more hormones of happiness, euphoria and attachment, which in turn boosts our immune system to protect us from bacteria, viruses etc. When in love, we are exposed to less stress that can 'exhaust' the body and reduce its power of defence against microbes. In short, more love, joy, play, optimism and enthusiasm means better immune – defence system of the body and therefore brings longevity.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Mythology
- Presocratic Period
b. Aristole (Philia) a. St. Paul (Agape)
b. St. Augustine (Caritas) a) Rousseau (modern romantic pair) a) Freud (Transference Love)
b) Nussbaum (Democratic Love)
Scientific Notions
*Mythology – soul mate (Aristophanes)*
Aristophanes speaks in Plato's Symposium of myth about twin souls who originally were composed together and as one being they had two heads, two sets of arms and legs, desirous halves seeking each other all around the world, what would happen if Hephaestus welded the soul mates together, made them meet again at last?
*Cosmology – love (philotes) and strife (neikos)* *(Empedocles)*
Empedocles Sphere, love, strife, exchange of the inflow of love and outflow of strife in the sphere, purification-catharsis, four stages of the formation of the world, breathing of the world, inflow and outflow as the metaphor of the circulation of blood: systole – diastole…)
* Philosophy – eros (Plato) and philia (Aristotle)*
*Plato* in Symposium recalls Diotima and claims that it is Diotima that thaught him about the concept of love that he speaks of: *eros*, desire, we desire what we do not have, love for self and other, climbing the ladder of love towards the sun of the eternally good, true and beautiful; one who loves is also good, true and honest. Alcibiades and Socrates between the sheets, where Socrates opposes Alcibiades so Alcibiades attributes to Socrates certain supernatural, satiric and silenic characteristics. Platonic love among friends – impersonal love, love at the level of soul and intellect, creativity, universal love where procreation takes place not at the physical but at the spiritual level, the level of creation of laws, works of art, political systems etc.
*Aristotle*: *philia* in Nichomachean Ethics, especially as the relationship between a husband and wife and their children; even more so between good or best friends, where philia is demonstrated as doing good to a friend for the sake of goodness itself and not for self-interest.)
*Christianity – agape (St. Paul) and caritas (St. Augustine)*
*St. Paul's agape* is self-sacrificing, uncalculating love, love is God, God is love, love as a gift, honesty-justice-love, love-faith-hope, love thyself as your neighbour, including your enemy, brotherhood and sisterhood, there should be, in principle, equality between a man, woman, stranger, neighbour...
Difference between *agape and eros* according to Nygren: eros – gainful, desirous and erotic, hedonistic, man must reach God and thus transcend himself and his humanity; agape – spiritual, spiritualised, cosmologic, universal, God is embodied for man.
*Augustin's *caritas* is combination of agape and eros. God is summum bonum, all mortal-created beings participate by the ultimate summum bonum, who is eternal, non-created, perfect and selfless.
*Art – courtly love (passionate knight/troubadour and lady)*
Unattainable lady, love outside the limits of contractual relationship between man and woman, love is established in itself, the feeling-emotion of love is also expressed by certain rhythmical wording – description, Tristan and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Cathar Code.)
*Enlightenment - romantic couple (Jean Jacques Rousseau) *
*Rousseau* in his epistolary novel Julie; or, the New Heloise resurrects the 'myth' about Romeo and Juliet, even more the evocation of the true story of renowned medieval philosopher Abelard who taught daughters from rich families, including Heloise, a wealthy, inquisitive niece of a rich man; when the latter found that Abelard, a teacher of lower class, fell in love with a wealthy town girl, he had him castrated while she retreated to a monastery out of revolt… well-known are their passionate, living and desirous letters that are deeply philosophical and reflective at the same time…
In his educational book Emile he presents a 'modern' romantic couple *Emile and Sophie*: the first known romantic couple whose union is based on love and independent of the social status, education, origin; their roles are assigned complementarily, based on a marital union in which two people help each other to the same extent as they love each other. Although Rousseau was aware of the deficiencies of inequality, he could not yet eliminate it.
*Modern – transference love (Sigmund Freud)*
*Freud's transference love* is about a relationship between parents determining relationship in adulthood, feeling-attitudes-relation to love being the same as the relation of parents to child..., in adulthood, this can be repeated or experienced as a deviation from it if the template was poor, unsatisfactory. How did Freud arrive at the idea of transference love? He noticed that his female clients would fall in love with him again and again; after a while, he realised that they did not actually fall in love with him, but merely transferred their emotions from childhood, their emotions of affection and attachment to the primary object of male gender, i.e. the father.
Freud, namely, reached the conclusion that a child is a sexual being, a polymorphic sexual being who may become attached to different subjects as well as partial objects, but who reaches sexual maturity only in adolescence by real sexual intercourse. One of the consequences of his finding is that adult relationships are so full of dissatisfaction because partners transfer their childhood expectations and desires to an adult-partner, who cannot really satisfy them because he or she is a different person than those involved in the primary relationship with mother and father. A grown-up partner is not one’s father or mother and cannot repeat/restore/evoke the love that someone experienced as a child with his or her parents. Modern interprets of this concept say that this false transference of love is the reason for so many unhappy, unsuccessful, dissatisfied marital relationships.
*Postmodern empathic, reciprocal and erotic love (Martha Craven Nussbaum)*
* Nussbaum* in Upheavals of Thought criticises Platonic and Augustinian love that rises in divine heights and sphere, claiming that such love is too often at the expense of the worldly love here and now with a specific person. What is more, she believes that the authors discussed suppress everything that is physical, sensual and emotional in order to reach the extrasensory sphere, the sphere of eternal and perfect love, the sphere of pure reason where all decisions are calculated with equanimity and without errors. The consequence of such orientation is often the deviation from our humaneness and humanity; a human being becomes a mere machine or a heartless statue that cares only for him or herself regardless of the consequences suffered by others, society and the environment. This is why Nussbaum wants to reintroduce empathy (identification with others) and compassion and respect for our fragile, vulnerable bodies, our emotions and sensuality (respect for human eroticism) into love; love should also include empathy, compassion and respect for others. Nussbaum thus points out our human characteristic of humanity, i.e. our bonds with other people as well as other beings, while stating that the recognition of our bodies, emotions, minds and spirits means the recognition of the uniqueness of each of us; she also advocates the respect for individuality, which, however, does not mean doing as one pleases: others are our limit of what is permissible and if we have love that encompasses empathy, compassion and individuality, we automatically practice mutuality and reparation, i.e. we try not to hurt the loved one, and if we do, we know how to identify with the pain of the other and rectify this by reparation.
*Contemporary scientific conception of love (biology, medical science)*
*Biology clearly distinguishes between love and sexuality. Love is not sexuality, as the function of sexuality is more or less limited to reproduction. At a higher level, sexuality may serve as a means of renewing a relationship, but without the same renewing and cohesive strength as love. Love functions as a link which makes partners stay together after sexual intercourse, with the aim of raising a child. Love that unites partners and children into a family serves, in the light of biology, as a safer, healthier and more prosperous environment for child raising; moreover, partners find life easier when they help and protect each other.
In medical science, love, enthusiasm and joy are linked to a strong immune system. When we love or are in love, our body emits more hormones of happiness, euphoria and attachment, which in turn boosts our immune system to protect us from bacteria, viruses etc. When in love, we are exposed to less stress that can 'exhaust' the body and reduce its power of defence against microbes. In short, more love, joy, play, optimism and enthusiasm means better immune – defence system of the body and therefore brings longevity.