From: Valence (valence10@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Jun 24 2003 - 15:55:20 BST
Hey Steve, Wim, Platt, all,
>> SAM
>>> Okeydokes, this is good. Lets have some 'terminological exactitude'. Let
>> us accept: eros =
>>> biological love (lust?); agape = social love (compassion?); amor =
>> personal love (eudaimonic love?)
>>
>> RICK
>> Okay, I'll accept all of that.
STEVE
> I think you have agape and amor reversed. I see compassion as a higher
form
> of love than romantic love. Romantic love (amor) has an "I'll love you if
> you'll love me" quality to it.
RICK
Compassion is 'brotherly love'. It's the nonparticularized love that we're
meant to hold for all people merely by virtue of their humanity. Romantic
love entails individuals loving each other on the basis of particular
personality. It would seem to me that Romantic love values preexisting
compassion and that one cannot experience Romantic love unless they are a
compassionate person (see earlier in this thread where Sam was discussing
how the highest love would require satisfaction of all the lower loves
first). However, the reverse does not hold. You don't need to be
romantically in love with an individual before you can feel compassion for
all. This would indicate, to me, that romantic love is the higher level,
built upon the valued preconditions of social compassion and biological
physical attraction.
STEVE
It is indeed a "personal love" which makes
> it a lower form of love than compassion (agape) which is a disinterested
> love that transcends self-ishness.
RICK
I don't think compassion is "disinterested", just nonparticularized (isn't
"disinterested love" oxymoronic?). Compassion is the ultimate 'social'
love. Everyone is meant to feel it for everyone else. Contrary to
transcending notions of individuality (which is what I assume you meant by
self-ishness) I think compassion simply precedes individuality. If there
wasn't a single "individual personality" on Earth there could still be
compassion, but there would be no Romance.
take care
rick
Love is, above all, the gift of oneself. - Jean Anouilh
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