EXAM 1 Flashcards
Soble: Varieties of Love
Explain the threes senses of love: Eros, Agape, and Philia
Eros- Passionate or romantic love
Agape- selfless, unconditional love
Philia- friendship love
Soble: Varieties of Love
What is the difference between appraising and bestowal views of love?
Appraising: Love is considered valuable depending on factors like compatibility and attractiveness. It involves someone meeting certain standards before giving love.
Bestowal: this view of love emphasizes the act of giving love freely, without requiring specific conditions
Soble: Varieties of Love
What is the difference between proceeding from value and creating it?
Proceeding from Value: this perspective suggests that love is derived rom pre-existing values or qualities within individuals or relationships.
Creating Value: this concept in love suggests that individuals’ activity contribute to the value and significance of their relationships through the actions, efforts, and interactions.
Plato: Symposium
Where are the circumstances (or scene) of the Symposium?
The scene of the Symposium depicts a gathering of several prominent Athenians conversing about the nature of love and desire.
Plato: Symposium
What was Aristophanes story about the origin of love? What are some problems with it?
According to Aristophanes, humans were originally created as three-gendered, boy-boy, girl-girl, boy-girl, but attempted to overthrow the gods so Zeus separated them from each other. Since then, humans have been searching for their other halves, or soul mates, in order to feel complete.
Plato: Symposium
Explain Diotima’s (Plato’s) “ladder of love”
First step: love of one’s beautiful body.
Second step: lover of all beautiful bodies; concept of physical beauty emerges.
Third step: Beauty of souls
Fourth step: beauty of laws and customs
Fifth step: love of wisdom
Sixth step: form of beauty itself
Plato: Symposium
What is the “between-ness” of love?
Love is in between mortal and immortal.
Eros mediates between the transcendent world of the good and the earthly, immanent world of humans
Plato: Symposium
What is the difference between vulgar and heavenly Eros?
Vulgar: refers to the lower form of love characterized by physical desire and attraction. Primary concerned with fulfilling sexual pleasures, lacks in depth and lasting significance.
Heavenly: represents a higher form of love. It transcends mere physical desire and encompasses a profound longing for spiritual union and connection. Heavenly Eros is associated with the pursuit of intellectual, moral, and spiritual beauty.
Plato: Symposium
Is love a god?
Love mediates between he transcendent world of the gods and the earthly, immanent world of humans
Plato: Symposium
What was Alcibiades speech, and what was its purpose?
Alcibiades speech suggests that there are some things (practical knowledge) about love that can only be conveyed through stories and lived experiences
Plato: Symposium
What is the role of love in procreation on love’s ladder?
Physical beauty serves as the initial object of love and procreation is often associated with the instinctual desire for physical attraction and reproduction. This form of love, centered on physical desire and gratification, is characterized by a basic urge for sexual union and he continuation of the species
Nozick: Loves Bond
What is common to all forms of love, for Nozick?
There is an inherent yearning for closeness, intimacy, and connection with the person. This desire for union forms the foundational bond of love.
Nozick: Loves Bond
Explain Nozick’s competition of the “we”. What are some features of the “we”?
Competition of the “we”: refers to the dynamic interaction between individual identities and the formation of a shared identity within a loving relationship.
Features of “we”:
Mutual recognition- each partner sees and values the other as part of the shared identity they create together.
Shared goals and values- it involves aligning individual interests with the collective interests of the relationship.
Emotional connection- fosters feelings of intimacy, trust, and solidarity, strengthening the bond between them.
Collective identity- characterized by a sense of unity and cohesion within the relationship.
Negotiation and compromise- involves finding balance between individual autonomy and collective unity.
Nozick: Loves Bond
What are some tensions with the “we”?
Individual autonomy vs collective identity- tension arises from the struggle to maintain individual autonomy while also merging with the partner to form a shared identity
Conflict of values- tension arises when partners hold conflicting values or goals that challenge the cohesion of the “we.”
Emotional boundaries- partners may struggle with issues of dependency, boundaries, and emotional autonomy leading to feelings of loss of identity
Nozick: Loves Bond
How does love evolve for Nozick?
Initial attraction- stage may be driven by physical attraction or shared interests.
Emotional connection- individuals develop a deeper emotional connection with their partner characterized by feelings of trust, vulnerability, and empathy.
Shared experiences- partners create memories, establish traditions, and build a shares history that further solidifies their bond
Mutual support- mutual support and care that partners provide for each other
Commitment and growth- partners invest in the relationship, prioritizing each other’s well-being, and strive to overcome obstacles together, deepening their bond and strengthening their connection over time.
Nozick: Loves Bond
What are Nozick’s two reasons not to “trade up”?
Loss of emotional investment- over time, individuals invest significant emotional energy, time, and effort into their relationship, creating a deep bond ad sense of connection with their partner. Trading up would mean abandoning this emotional investment and starting anew, leaving behind valuable experiences and shared memories
Uncertainty of future relationships- relationships involve challenges and trading up risks encountering similar issues in new relationships without the foundation of trust, intimacy, and shared history that exists in stablished relationships.
Nozick: Loves Bond
What does it mean to say that the “motion” of love is more Aristotelean than Newtonian?
Aristotelean- love unfolds gradually overtime, driven by mutual growth, development, and the fulfillment of shared goals and aspirations. Love is seen as a process of becoming, where individuals deepen heir emotional connection, strengthen their bond, and evolve together as partners.
Newtonian- refers to the concept of external orcas acting upon objects to cause their movement. This would suggest that love is influenced primarily by external factors, such as attraction, circumstances, or societal norms which propel individuals in and out of relationships. Love is viewed as transactional.
Nozick: Loves Bond
Does Nozick think we form a “we” with friends?
We can form a bond with friends, not just romantic partners. Nozick suggests that close friendships can involve a sense of shared identity and connection that transcends individual selves, similar to the “we” that forms within romantic relationships.
Velleman: Love as a Moral Emotion
What is the tension between love and morality?
The tensions between love and morality arises from the conflict between subjective feelings of love and the objective principles of morality. Velleman argues that love, as a deeply personal and emotional experience, can sometimes lead individuals to act in ways that seem morally questionable or inconsistent with moral norms and principle.
Velleman: Love as a Moral Emotion
Explain Kant’s Categorical Imperative, and what is means to treat someone as an “end.”
Categorial Imperative: individuals should act based on principles or rules that they would be willing to apply universally to everyone in similar circumstances.
Treating someone’s as an “end” means respecting their inherent dignity and worth as rational beings. Individuals possess intrinsic value because of their rational capacity to set ends (goals) and act autonomously.
Promoting their welfare
Respecting their rights
Avoid harming them.
Furthering he ends of others.
Velleman: Love as a Moral Emotion
Explain William’s drowning wife thought experiment. What did William’s mean by saying, “That is one thought too many”?
A man is faced with a situation to save his wife or a scientist, he only has enough time to save one of them. The man decides to save his wife, prioritizing his personal relationship and moral duty to her over the potential societal benefits that could come from saving the scientist
“One thought too many”: Williams suggest that the introduction of the scientist in the scenario adds unnecessary complications to the decision-making process. The man’s instinctual response would likely to be to save his wife as he has a deep connection and moral obligation to her. However, by introducing the option of the scientist, the man is forces to weigh the relative value of two lives ad consider the potential consequences of his actions.
Velleman: Love as a Moral Emotion
How does Freud conceive of love? What about analytic philosophies? Where do they both go wrong according to Velleman?
Freud: love takes the form of a drive. Conceives of a drive as the constant, internal stimulus that the subject is motivated to remove, whereupon he attains a temporary, repeatable satisfaction, towards which the drive is said to aim. The drive also has an object but it’s attachment to this object ur purely instrumental.
Implications: love tends to cloud rather than clarify the lover’s vision. A dive focuses on an object only as it can be used as a source of inner relief.
Analytic philosophies: they have deep hired the sexual nature of love that Freud promoted, but generally agrees that love has an aim.
Implications: this view expresses a sentimental fantasy- an idealized vision of living happily ever after. In this fantasy, love necessarily entails a desire to “care and share” or to “benefit and be with.”
Velleman: Love as a Moral Emotion
What is the loving relationship, for Velleman?
Emotional Connection- characterized by feelings of affection, empathy, and concern for the well-being of the beloved.
Mutual care and support- individuals in a loving relationship prioritize each others happiness and well-being, offering comfort, encouragement, and assistance when needed
Respect for autonomy- involves considering the impact of ones action o the other person
Moral commitment- acting in ways that promote the flushing and fulfillment of the other person, even when it requires sacrifice or compromise.
Reciprocity- where both partners contribute to the relationship and support each others growth and development. Love is seen as a mutual exchange of care, affection, and support , strengthening the bond between individuals
Velleman: Love as a Moral Emotion
How does Velleman explain the partiality of love? (Why do we love the only people we do?)
Love in inherently partial because it involves a deep emotional connection and attachment for specific individuals, rather than a universal or impartial concern for all people.
