Philosophy of Love (PhoL)

Convenors:   Aaron Alvarez-Gonzalez – aaronestribor@gmail.com
                     Marcelino Botin – marcelinobotin@gmail.com
                     Markel Kortabarria – mkortabarriaareitio@gmail.com

Format: Hybrid.
Schedule: Weekly - Mondays from 12.00 to 14.00.
Duration: Whole year.

Summary: Love runs through our lives in a multiplicity of ways. One such way is personal love, or the love of particular individuals as such. Personal love manifests itself in many forms, among which we find filial love, friendship, or love for animals. However, perhaps the most characteristically distinctive and at the same time mysterious form of personal love is romantic love.

Answering the question of what romantic love is and how it works is not an easy task. Some say that it is a form of union consisting of the fusion of lovers. Others however have argued that it is a special form of appraisal of value. And few more claim that love is just a complex emotion. The question of in-virtue-of-what we love is also an important one. At first sight, it may seem that when we love someone, we love them in virtue of their exemplified properties. Yet, the causal history we share seems to also be of relevant importance. Perhaps both ideas are wrong, and love is ultimately unjustifiable precisely because it does not respond to reasons. Lastly, sex and desire also seem to play an important role when analyzing romantic love. However, exactly what that role is and how it connects with love is a hotly debated question.

These questions are part of what we call the ‘old’ questions of (romantic) love. Topics that have traditionally received the focus of attention. However, with the passage of time, new questions have arisen. One such question concerns the issue of whether romantic love involves some form of exclusivity. The rise of new forms of romantic love such as polyamory and open relationships have called this into question. Some have even claimed that these new ways of loving are even better for different normative reasons. The technological future of love is also an important research area given the growing presence of relationship apps in our society. As it is the ever-pressing question of whether or not we can (and we should) fall in love with robots. Likewise, the development of biomedical enhancements brings an interesting debate around the question of whether it would be good to improve our emotional control over love. A pill that helps us get over our breakups or drugs that improve the connection we have with our partners are some examples.

This reading group is born out of friends' discussions about such old and new questions of love. Our aim is to analyze these matters surveying the literature in analytic philosophy in search of a better understanding of this complex and interesting phenomenon that our hearts harbor. The first semester will cover the old questions of love, whereas the second will cover discussions concerning the new questions.

 

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