What Is This Thing Called Love?

[Philosophy Now]

by Tim Madigan

http://philosophynow.org/issues/85/What ... alled_Love

[spike]

What kind of love are we talking about? Is it about loving napalm in the morning (Apocalypse Now) or having an affection for somebody?

I'd love this issue more if it was about something else.

[artisticsolution]

What kind of love are we talking about? Is it about loving napalm in the morning (Apocalypse Now) or having an affection for somebody?

I'd love this issue more if it was about something else.

But then again you know they world doesn't revolve around you and your desires...right?

Being a woman...I am glad this issue is about love. I think women excel at love. And while I believe women are better at understanding love...I think men are better at romance.

Men don't usually like talking about love because they are at a great disadvantage. But it doesn't have to be that way. All it takes to understand love is to look at it objectively like politics or the economy or something of that nature. You will see it plays by the same rules. Easy.

But then again...wtf do I know. I'm only a woman

[spike]

But then again...wtf do I know. I'm only a woman

You know a lot, you're a women, because you're probably a fox rather than a hedgehog. Men are hedgehogs.

But I think a lot of this talk about love is really about sex.

[artisticsolution]

But then again...wtf do I know. I'm only a woman

You know a lot, you're a women, because you're probably a fox rather than a hedgehog. Men are hedgehogs.

But I think a lot of this talk about love is really about sex.

You are saying that you think Love is really about sex? What happens if ones penis is cut off tomorrow? Are you telling me one could not love again if that happened?

Somehow that doesn't ring true. I think a man could love even without his genitals.

[duszek]

Love gives you a glimpse of what God is.
God is love.

Also a hedgehog needs social life, which is the first step to love.

[duszek]

Love is when you help someone else to live.

[duszek]

A poet says:

... love is a thin-skinned craft which rides on sweet lines through the void ...

[spike]

What's Love Got To Do With It by Tina Turner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqWkFF-T ... re=related

[Arising_uk]

Not sure of its truth but I always thought this phrase was funny,

"Women talk about love and dream about sex and men talk about sex and dream about love".

[duszek]

George Michael once said in one of his songs that love keeps you from pain.

There is lots of truth in it.
You do not care about annoying stuff any more because your mental resistance or resilience is high.

But of course this only applies in case of mutual love.
Because lots of people have died of a broken heart, and the suffering before is real pain indeed.

[duszek]

We should not forget the ugly face of love:

A person can imagine herself to be in love with someone, or even to have a relationship with someone, for example a married man. She would then stock this poor guy or even try to kill him, all out of passionate love.

I saw a psychological thriller about this, with Audrey Toutou, a French film from the year 2002 (German title: Wahnsinnig verliebt, French title: A la folie).

This is not lovely any more. The woman ends up in a psychiatric ward, the man is lucky to survive, even if crippled.

My friend told me that the friend of her friend was doing a similar thing: she believed that a married doctor was in love with her and bored with his married life. She does stealthy approaches and other strange things. This can become a nightmare for this man and his family.

[duszek]

You can also love a psychopath and realize much too late that you were a fool.

In the novel "A Portrait of a Lady" by H. James the heroine loves and marries a psychopath. Then after they are married he shows his real face and for her it is as if one by one the lights went out.

Then what you feel is just disgust. It can be unbearable. A young woman in "Infinite Jest" expressed the idea of all her cells feeling disgust.

Poets and novelists explore the phenomenon of love (and death) rather well, I would say.

[spike]

I really don't care much for this subject but I am going to write something because it is kind of sluggish around here — like deadsville.

It is said that love makes the world go around. It is also said that money makes the world go around. There is also the love of money. The love of money probably makes the world go faster.

I was wondering, has LOve made the world better? Did Napoleon really love Josephine? Did Napoleon try to conquer Europe for the love of Josephine?

I suppose LOve has influenced music, art and literature. In that respect it has probably made the world better. Was Democracy invented for the love of Humankind?

I don't recall there being anything written on self-love — narcissism in this issue. If it wasn't for narcissism — self-love, the mirror would probably not have being invented. (Narcissism is a word in love with 's')

[Bernard]

George Michael once said in one of his songs that love keeps you from pain.

There is lots of truth in it.
You do not care about annoying stuff any more because your mental resistance or resilience is high.

But of course this only applies in case of mutual love.
Because lots of people have died of a broken heart, and the suffering before is real pain indeed.

I don't think love keeps you from pain at all. I think GM is talking about pleasure and the release of chemicals like endorphins. Its not that loves keeps you from pleasure either. Having one word for love is too limiting to make it interesting for discussion; although its usually interesting when it pops up within discussions and leaves quickly - I mean the word - not love itself, which can be continually present through any thick or thin.