human love (philosophy)
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HUMAN LOVE
RAY ANN B. CAGAMPANG, PhL., M.A.
SPIRITUAL FACULTIES
• Intellect - for apprehension, judgment , and reasoning
• Will – whereby he seeks the good as perceived by the intellect.
• Object of the Intellect – TRUE• Object of the Will – GOOD
ETYMOLOGY
• “love” – Germanic forms of the Sanskrit “lubh” which means “desire”
MISCONCEPTIONS OF LOVE
• Romance – equated with romantic feeling
• Possessing – “I Love You” has come to mean “You are Mine”
• Admiration – attracted to the good qualities of the other
• Sex – to be passionately attracted and bring to bed with me
REASONS OF MISCONCEPTIONS
1. Emphasis on being-loved rather than on loving
2. Emphasis on the object loved rather than on the faculty of loving
3. Confusion between the initial state and the permanent standing-in love
4. Reduction of love to its aspects
GREEK NOTIONS OF LOVE
• Eros (Greek erasthai) – a passionate, intense
desire for something, – sexual desire
(‘erotic’)–“Desire for
immortality”
GREEK NOTIONS OF LOVE
• Philia –Affectionate regard
or friendly feeling towards others–“Desire to posses
spiritual realities”
GREEK NOTIONS OF LOVE
• Agape – Paternal love of God for man
and of man for God – A fondness, and a passion
without the necessity of reciprocity
– “Desire to the idea of Absolute Beauty”
TRIARCHIC THEORY
• Robert Sternberg• Three Components:
1. Passion – Intense emotional arousal in the absence of substance
2. Intimacy – associated with close friendship and lacking the sexual overtones
3. Commitment - a choice to continue in the relationship
TRIARCHIC THEORY
1. Passion: infatuation2. Intimacy: liking or friendship3. Commitment: empty love4. Passion + intimacy: romantic love5. Intimacy + commitment:
companionate love6. Passion + commitment: fatuous love7. Passion + intimacy + commitment:
consummate love
VIEWS ON LOVE
• LOVE AS UNION
–Consists in the formation of some kind of union, a “we.”–Does not erase the
existence each agent
VIEWS ON LOVE
• LOVE AS ROBUST CONCERN
–Constituted by my concern for you –rejects the idea a
“we”
VIEWS ON LOVE
• LOVE AS VALUING– distinctive mode of valuing a person
1. Love as Appraisal of Value– Acknowledging and responding to the
value of the belovedPrice – compared to the value of other
things with pricesDignity – comparisons of relative value
become meaningless
VIEWS ON LOVE
1. Love as Appraisal of Value
Expression of Dignity
Response to the
Expression
VIEWS ON LOVE
2. Love as Bestowal of Value– To project a kind of intrinsic
value to the beloved Love – an attitude with no clear
objective,” whereas Liking – inherently teleological.– “love confers importance no
matter what the object is worth.”
KAROL WOJTYLA
• May 18, 1920 at Wadowice, Poland
• Love and Responsibility (1960)– on the human person, human
sexuality, love, and marriage– Analysis of Love (Chapt 2)• Metaphyiscal • Psychological • Ethical
METAPHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF LOVE
• LOVE– Is always a mutual
relationship between persons–based on attitudes
toward the good
METAPHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF LOVE
• LOVE AS ATTRACTION
–Amor Complacentiae–Attraction: the
basic element in human love
METAPHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF LOVE
• LOVE AS ATTRACTION• Attraction is of the essence of
love • But love is not merely
attraction• Not limited to inherent values,
but directed to the person as value
• Rooted in truth
METAPHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF LOVE
• LOVE AS DESIRE
–Amor Concupiscentiae–Desire is of the essence of
love–Originates in a need and
aims at a good w/c it lacks–A man and a woman is
complementary
METAPHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF LOVE
• LOVE AS DESIRE
–A longing for the person and not mere sensual desire–Not to be reduced to desire
itself (utilitarian attitude)– Sexual urge is oriented in
part to this completion
METAPHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF LOVE
• LOVE AS GOODWILL
–Amor Benevolentiae–Directed to a genuine good
in the true way–Goodwill is free of self-
interest–More unconditional than
love as desire
METAPHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF LOVE
• LOVE AS FRIENDSHIP
–Sympathy : emotional kind of love whereby one feels with another
METAPHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF LOVE
• LOVE AS FRIENDSHIP
• Full commitment of the will to another person with a view of that person’s good
METAPHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF LOVE
• BETROTHED LOVE–Deeper than friendship–Giving one’s own
person to another–Not merely sexual but
a personal significance
METAPHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF LOVE
• BETROTHED LOVE• Full communication of
persons (communion personarum) – Full surrendering of the self w/o losing possession of the self.
• Marriage is the result of this form of love
PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
• SENSUALITY AND LOVEMan naturally impresses
one another and elicit a response
Sensuality – response to the sexual values of the body as a potential object of enjoyment
PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
• SENSUALITY AND LOVE– Has a “consumer orientation” towards
a body and touches the person only indirectly
– This “consumer orientation” is a matter of natural reflexes and is not evil
– Sensuality, thought not evil in itself, poses a threat and a temptation
PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
• SENTIMENT AND LOVEA kind of desire for nearness,
proximity, exclusivity or intimacy (Affection)
Gives rise to “romantic love.”Can easily shift into the
territory of sensuality
PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
• SENSUALITY AND SENTIMENT
– “raw materials” for love –Not love because they are blind
to the person (mere utilization and fixed on the feelings)–Must be integrated into true
interpersonal love in the light of truth and free choice
ETHICAL ANALYSIS
• PERSONALISTIC NORM
–Incomplete without ethical aspect–Considered as virtue.–Affirm the value of the
person
ETHICAL ANALYSIS
• Attraction to the sexual values must be subordinated to the dignity of the person
• Love should direct itself through free choice
RECIPROCITY OF LOVE
• Not just something in the man nor in the woman but is something common to them and unique
• Desires another person above all as the co-creator of love and not merely as the object of appetite