Join us on 22nd July at 7 pm at the Lower Red Lion
This discussion will explore the complex and timeless philosophical question: What is Love?
The philosophy of love explores its fundamental nature, ethical significance, and existential purpose through the perspectives of metaphysics, ethics, and human understanding. Throughout civilisations and eras, thinkers have grappled with love's paradoxes: Is it a primal emotion or a conscious choice? A biological impulse or a spiritual connection? How does it define our morality and give meaning to existence?
Ancient traditions laid the foundation—Plato envisioned love (eros) as an ascending path from physical desire to absolute beauty, Aristotle championed love (philia) as the virtuous bond essential for human flourishing, while Buddhism taught love (metta) as selfless compassion free from attachment.
Modern philosophy splintered into competing visions: Romantics like Kierkegaard celebrated love's irrational passion, Utilitarians like Bentham reduced it to a calculus of pleasure, and Existentialists like de Beauvoir warned against love's potential to imprison rather than liberate.
Central tensions persist—does love dissolve individuality or fulfill it? Can it be both unconditional and reasonable? Is it eternal or destined to fade? Contemporary debates analyse love through neuroscience (is it merely chemicals?), ethics (does the Other's face demand our love?), and activism (can love dismantle oppression?).
Ultimately, love defies simple classification: it is at once something we do, an ideal we pursue, and a profound mystery. As Iris Murdoch noted, true love challenges us to fully acknowledge
reality beyond ourselves. For those seeking deeper exploration, Plato's Symposium unravels love's ladder of transcendence, Sartre's Being and Nothingness confronts its existential tensions, and bell hooks' All About Love reclaims it as a radical force for justice.
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