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What Is Love

Five experts provide their perspectives on the concept of love: 1) A physicist argues that love is essentially chemistry in the brain, involving the release of chemicals like oxytocin and dopamine that promote bonding and long-term relationships from an evolutionary perspective. 2) A psychotherapist notes love has many forms or "guises" described by ancient Greeks like philia (friendship), eros (passion), and pragma (mature love), and that self-love is important to caring for others. 3) A philosopher says love varies based on the subject but generally involves a passionate commitment that must be nurtured to survive.

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Carles Núñez
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36 views

What Is Love

Five experts provide their perspectives on the concept of love: 1) A physicist argues that love is essentially chemistry in the brain, involving the release of chemicals like oxytocin and dopamine that promote bonding and long-term relationships from an evolutionary perspective. 2) A psychotherapist notes love has many forms or "guises" described by ancient Greeks like philia (friendship), eros (passion), and pragma (mature love), and that self-love is important to caring for others. 3) A philosopher says love varies based on the subject but generally involves a passionate commitment that must be nurtured to survive.

Uploaded by

Carles Núñez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is love?

Five theories on the greatest


emotion of all
Jim Al-Khalili, Philippa Perry, Julian Baggini, Jojo Moyes and Catherine

Wybourne

"W hat is love" was the most searched phrase on Google in

2012, according to the company. In an attempt to get to the bottom of the


question once and for all, the Guardian has gathered writers from the fields of
science, psychotherapy, literature, religion and philosophy to give their
definition of the much-pondered word.

The physicist: 'Love is chemistry'

Biologically, love is a powerful neurological condition like hunger or thirst,


only more permanent. We talk about love being blind or unconditional, in the
sense that we have no control over it. But then, that is not so surprising since
love is basically chemistry. While lust is a temporary passionate sexual desire
involving the increased release of chemicals such as testosterone and
oestrogen, in true love, or attachment and bonding, the brain can release a
whole set of chemicals: pheromones, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin,
oxytocin and vasopressin. However, from an evolutionary perspective, love
can be viewed as a survival tool – a mechanism we have evolved to promote
long-term relationships, mutual defence and parental support of children and
to promote feelings of safety and security.

Jim Al-Khalili is a theoretical physicist and science writer

The psychotherapist: 'Love has many guises'

Unlike us, the ancients did not lump all the various emotions that we label
"love" under the one word. They had several variations, including:

Philia which they saw as a deep but usually non-sexual intimacy between close
friends and family members or as a deep bond forged by soldiers as they
fought alongside each other in battle. Ludus describes a more playful affection
found in fooling around or flirting. Pragma is the mature love that develops
over a long period of time between long-term couples and involves actively
practising goodwill, commitment, compromise and understanding. Agape is a
more generalised love, it's not about exclusivity but about love for all of
humanity. Philautia is self love, which isn't as selfish as it sounds. As Aristotle
discovered and as any psychotherapist will tell you, in order to care for others
you need to be able to care about yourself. Last, and probably least even
though it causes the most trouble, eros is about sexual passion and desire.
Unless it morphs into philia and/or pragma, eros will burn itself out.

Love is all of the above. But is it possibly unrealistic to expect to experience all
six types with only one person. This is why family and community are
important.

Philippa Perry is a psychotherapist and author of Couch Fiction


The answer remains elusive in part because love is not one thing. Love for
parents, partners, children, country, neighbour, God and so on all have
different qualities. Each has its variants – blind, one-sided, tragic, steadfast,
fickle, reciprocated, misguided, unconditional. At its best, however, all love is
a kind a passionate commitment that we nurture and develop, even though it
usually arrives in our lives unbidden. That's why it is more than just a
powerful feeling. Without the commitment, it is mere infatuation. Without the
passion, it is mere dedication. Without nurturing, even the best can wither and
die.

Julian Baggini is a philosopher and writer

The romantic novelist: 'Love drives all great


stories'

What love is depends on where you are in relation to it. Secure in it, it can feel
as mundane and necessary as air – you exist within it, almost unnoticing.
Deprived of it, it can feel like an obsession; all consuming, a physical pain.
Love is the driver for all great stories: not just romantic love, but the love of
parent for child, for family, for country. It is the point before consummation of
it that fascinates: what separates you from love, the obstacles that stand in its
way. It is usually at those points that love is everything.

Jojo Moyes is a two-time winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year award

The nun: 'Love is free yet binds us'


Love is more easily experienced than defined. As a theological virtue, by which
we love God above all things and our neighbours as ourselves for his sake, it
seems remote until we encounter it enfleshed, so to say, in the life of another –
in acts of kindness, generosity and self-sacrifice. Love's the one thing that can
never hurt anyone, although it may cost dearly. The paradox of love is that it is
supremely free yet attaches us with bonds stronger than death. It cannot be
bought or sold; there is nothing it cannot face; love is life's greatest blessing.

Catherine Wybourne is a Benedictine nun

The physicist: Love is chemistry.

An argument in favor of this idea that love is a survival tool

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