Love is one of the most wonderful emotions, yet it can also be one of the most destructive. Its highs and lows have been immortalized in countless songs and stories. The line between love and hate is often very thin, and the two emotions share the same area of the brain. Still, love persists in all parts of the world.
Love is often distinguished from other personal attitudes by the notion that it involves a distinctive form of evaluation. Such evaluation may account for the ‘depth’ of love, which is a key characteristic of love. However, there is considerable debate about whether love involves a specific kind of evaluation. This question is closely related to questions about justification.
According to some philosophers, love is the experience of the Absolute – an awareness of one’s self and another – and is thus a unique and distinct experience. It is a complex experience and cannot be captured in any single emotion. As such, love requires a certain amount of self-appraisal, which is essential to determining whether or not it is real or not.
As humans, we spend more time in childhood than any other animal or species. We depend on our parents for a long time to develop skills and abilities. As a result, love is especially important for us. As such, it has a biological and evolutionary basis. Passionate love activates the same brain regions as cocaine.
While we may have romanticized the concept of love in movies and literature, the truth is that love is a much more complex and difficult process. It takes time for the threads of love to weave together and form a powerful bond. When the two people share the same thoughts, love begins to take root and manifest. Its timetable may differ from that of friendship.
Love is the emotion of attraction and affection that people feel towards other people. The Greeks considered love to be similar to that of gods, and it is often referred to as Agape love. It is also a form of brotherhood. It requires sacrifice and self-giving. The definition of love in the Bible is not set in stone.
Love has many different forms. There is the erotic type, which focuses on sexual intimacy and physical attraction, and passionate love, which requires physical closeness. A third type, called Storge, is more mature and based on the shared interests and values of the two individuals. In storge, the love is mutual and based on mutual trust.
The philosophical accounts of love have largely focused on the individual. For example, Frankfurt (1999) and Jaworska & Wonderly (2017) give a more general account of the notion of love. While they agree on the importance of the self-esteem of the beloved, they also claim that love must also be compatible with one’s own autonomy.