Philosophy
Thinking about the nature of love today. It's TheWife's birthday and I'm puzzling over how someone so strong, smart, gorgeous, and caring could end up in love with some awkward uber-geek with no fashion sense and a philosopher's salary.
There's no doubt that love is in part biological. Pheromones and neurological wiring are no doubt part of the story. When you first see your future beloved across the room, there is that rush, that "ooooh" moment. Surely, something anatomical is in play there, but that can't be all of it. Think about those people who have types that they find themselves attracted to. The explanation there is often biographical, psychological, or cultural. And then, on top of that, somehow so many of us end up with people who compliment our weaknesses, people who embody the virtues or abilities we miss in ourselves. Sometimes we can see this in the behaviors that lead us to attraction, but usually they are things you don't know until after you are intimately acquainted with the person. How is it that we tend to find ourselves attracted to people we later find out were right for us and whom we are right for? Some of it must be cognitive, there surely is some rational aspect to love, no matter how much we try to isolate the passions from reason. Sure, there's some hit or miss. Not all initial attractions end up being the real thing. But it does happen often enough to be odd. TheWife would probably use words like fate, but as an official member of the anti-metaphysical curmudgeons' league, I ain't buying it.
So, how much of love is pure animal biology, an accidental result of the need to procreate that has an accidental instantiation in our newly developed self-conscious brains? How much is psychological, a set of subconscious desires, fears, and insecurities we are trying to satisfy? How much is social construction, is the notion of romantic love a western construction designed to enforce gender roles or provide an unreasonable image to aspire to? How much is cognitive, is there good reason to to love and does good reason at all influence who and how deeply we love?
- Pressing Your Love Button
We had a student present a senior thesis on reductionism in philosophy of mind and the love button example came up. TheWife and I went to a showing a couple weeks back of a Bangladeshi artist who has moved to the area. Very nice work in a wide variety...
- True Love Vs. Romantic Love
Great quotation today from Margaret Anderson, "In real love you want the other person's good. In romantic love you want the other person."So, is there a distinction to made between real love and romantic love?...
- Giving Thanks And Birthday Wishes
Over at Mad Melancholic Feminista, my fairy blog-mother Aspazia had a wonderful post about realizing how good you have it. Today is my birthday, making it a good day for some introspection and reflection. Like Aspazia, I am incredibly thankful in a world...
- Unconditional Love
For some reason, I?ve been thinking about the concept of unconditional love lately. Thinking, that is, about whether such love is desirable, about whether I would want to be loved unconditionally. The answer I?ve come to is this: ?hell no!? For those...
- William Shakespeare...if You Are Lost For Words Of Affection
Don't know what to say to the significant other on Valentine's Day?...well, borrow from the bard. "They do not love that do not show their love." "The course of true love never did run smooth." "So long as I can breathe or I can see so long...
Philosophy
The Essence of Love
Thinking about the nature of love today. It's TheWife's birthday and I'm puzzling over how someone so strong, smart, gorgeous, and caring could end up in love with some awkward uber-geek with no fashion sense and a philosopher's salary.
There's no doubt that love is in part biological. Pheromones and neurological wiring are no doubt part of the story. When you first see your future beloved across the room, there is that rush, that "ooooh" moment. Surely, something anatomical is in play there, but that can't be all of it. Think about those people who have types that they find themselves attracted to. The explanation there is often biographical, psychological, or cultural. And then, on top of that, somehow so many of us end up with people who compliment our weaknesses, people who embody the virtues or abilities we miss in ourselves. Sometimes we can see this in the behaviors that lead us to attraction, but usually they are things you don't know until after you are intimately acquainted with the person. How is it that we tend to find ourselves attracted to people we later find out were right for us and whom we are right for? Some of it must be cognitive, there surely is some rational aspect to love, no matter how much we try to isolate the passions from reason. Sure, there's some hit or miss. Not all initial attractions end up being the real thing. But it does happen often enough to be odd. TheWife would probably use words like fate, but as an official member of the anti-metaphysical curmudgeons' league, I ain't buying it.
So, how much of love is pure animal biology, an accidental result of the need to procreate that has an accidental instantiation in our newly developed self-conscious brains? How much is psychological, a set of subconscious desires, fears, and insecurities we are trying to satisfy? How much is social construction, is the notion of romantic love a western construction designed to enforce gender roles or provide an unreasonable image to aspire to? How much is cognitive, is there good reason to to love and does good reason at all influence who and how deeply we love?
- Pressing Your Love Button
We had a student present a senior thesis on reductionism in philosophy of mind and the love button example came up. TheWife and I went to a showing a couple weeks back of a Bangladeshi artist who has moved to the area. Very nice work in a wide variety...
- True Love Vs. Romantic Love
Great quotation today from Margaret Anderson, "In real love you want the other person's good. In romantic love you want the other person."So, is there a distinction to made between real love and romantic love?...
- Giving Thanks And Birthday Wishes
Over at Mad Melancholic Feminista, my fairy blog-mother Aspazia had a wonderful post about realizing how good you have it. Today is my birthday, making it a good day for some introspection and reflection. Like Aspazia, I am incredibly thankful in a world...
- Unconditional Love
For some reason, I?ve been thinking about the concept of unconditional love lately. Thinking, that is, about whether such love is desirable, about whether I would want to be loved unconditionally. The answer I?ve come to is this: ?hell no!? For those...
- William Shakespeare...if You Are Lost For Words Of Affection
Don't know what to say to the significant other on Valentine's Day?...well, borrow from the bard. "They do not love that do not show their love." "The course of true love never did run smooth." "So long as I can breathe or I can see so long...