The philosophy of love.
From the Greeks naming four kinds of love, through Augustine and Aquinas, into existentialism, contemporary analytic philosophy, and the postmodern critique. The questions philosophers have asked about love, with a translation of why each one matters at 1 a.m.
7 pieces · tag: philosophy
Amatonormativity: the hidden pressure to find 'the one.'
Why society's obsession with romantic relationships might be making you feel broken — when you're actually perfectly whole.
ArticleLove is dead: Baudrillard's pessimistic vision of romance in the age of simulation.
How the postmodern philosopher argued that authentic love has become impossible in our media-saturated world — and why that might actually be freeing.
ArticleMedieval thinkers asked: how do you love a person without making them your god?
Augustine and Aquinas inherited Greek philosophy and Christian theology and tried to reconcile them. Their answer — love is ordered, and disordered love makes us miserable — still describes most heartbreak.
ArticleWhat the ancient Greeks figured out about love.
They didn't have one word for love. They had four. Knowing which one you mean — eros, philia, storge, or agape — explains most arguments about whether something 'counts' as love.
ArticleWhat modern philosophers ask about love that nobody asked before.
Can you love someone's freedom without trying to possess it? Can love be rational? Is your partner replaceable in principle? The questions sound abstract; the answers shape modern dating.
ArticleThree meanings hiding inside one word.
The word love does a lot of jobs. The dopamine rush, the slow oxytocin warmth, the daily practice — three meanings, one word.
ListThe books that taught us most about love.
A short, curated reading list — neuroscience, philosophy, attachment, and the practice of long love.