Love: Oxford Very Short Talk 011

Why do we "fall in love" with someone?

Is love selfless or selfish? Does love have obligations? Can we discuss love scientifically?

Contrary to what people often believe, love is not an emotion. More precisely, when we think of love, we often associate it with beautiful and tender feelings. These loving feelings are indeed emotions, but they are much more than that. The faces love can show include sadness, fear, guilt, regret, bitterness, depression, contempt, humiliation, ecstasy, rejection, anxiety, jealousy, disgust, or murderous anger. Let's put it this way: we can think of love as a state focused on the beloved, which shapes and governs our thoughts, desires, emotions, and behaviors, like a prism that can influence all of our experiences—even experiences not directly related to the beloved.

This book is written from a philosopher's perspective. Philosophy loves to deal with mysteries, and "love" offers all sorts of chaotic mysteries—you don't need to be exceptionally humble to admit that you're bewildered by love. The book will discuss fundamental philosophical questions about love, distinguish different types of love, examine various ideologies of love, and also include (perhaps) an attempt to thoroughly analyze love scientifically.

Is it possible for us to unravel the mystery of love?

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Only when we understand that depression is a kind of pain, superstition is a feeling of social support of being loved, and medication reflects our underlying anxieties, can we understand the social roots of the six major anxieties of the 21st century in a highly atomized social structure, and build a healing culture suitable for every community and every individual. — Chao En-Chieh