Table of Contents

The romantic vision; "love is really x"; love's evolution; why love has a history; the perfect union; love as education; recognition; a creative eye; possession; imagination; infatuation; blind cupid; imagination (again); categories; conflict and interpretation; the good of the other; charity; love and the meaning of life; incommensurable desires; sexuality; love's increase; maturity.

About the Author

John Armstrong is the author of THE INTIMATE PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE. A philosopher at the University of Melbourne

Reviews

In this meditative but somewhat murky philosophical account of love, Armstrong aims to develop a "mature conception" of the emotion by exploring a different love-related theme in each chapter of this slim volume. He critiques Plato's "myth of original unity," suggesting that the right attitude may more important than the right person; contemplates Stendahl's beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder theory of "crystallization"; and ponders love's relationship to charity, the meaning of life and, much too briefly, sexuality. In general, the goal seems to be a gathering of miscellaneous and diverse ideas from thinkers, novelists, and artists from Augustine to Freud put to service towards a study of our most powerful emotion. Armstrong calls this approach "pandoxist," which at its best is breezy and refreshing, and at its worst seems to be an excuse for not examining views critically enough. Armstrong's primary focus is on long-term romantic love (i.e., between sexual partners), but he often veers into discussing fraternal, parental, divine, and altruistic love, and he takes a page from Wittgenstein to argue that there is no one essence uniting all the ways we use the word love. Unlike, say, Ted Cohen's Jokes, a philosophical study of jokes that is itself funny, this book is neither romantic nor sexy. But it is an interesting perspective on the problem of love-one that ultimately feels more personal than philosophical. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Armstrong, research fellow in the philosophy of art at the University of Melbourne and director of the Aesthetics program at the Monash Centre for Public Philosophy in Australia, has written a very charming and thoughtful little book on the topic of love. Drawing from a number of philosophical and literary sources, including Goethe, Dante, Socrates, Plato, St. Augustine, and Jane Austen, he considers why we seldom find romantic love sufficient and seek something more satisfying and enduring. In doing so, he recognizes that our greater desire is for deep, emotionally satisfying relationships that bind us to friends, family, and also lovers. In relatively brief chapters, Armstrong touches on such aspects of love as infatuation, romance, the special relation between sexuality and love, and the recognition of the importance of the "other" in relationships. His writing style is clear, precise, and open and his references well chosen. In all, this is a book that should be welcome in most libraries. Highly recommended.-Terry Skeats, Bishop's Univ. Lib., Lennoxville, Que. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.