Love: A New Understanding of an Ancient Emotion

Love is the emotion we feel towards whomever or whatever we experience as grounding our life, motivated by a promise of ontological rootedness. It is not motivated by beauty or goodness, wholeness, virtue, sexual or reproductive desire, compassion or altruism, or empathy. Simon May argues that romantic love is gradually giving way to parental love as the most valued form of love, and that childhood has become sacred and excellence in parenting a paramount ideal. He also proposes that the child is the first genuinely modern supreme object of love, the first to fully reflect what Nietzsche called the death of God.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 288 pages
\n Publication date: 04 July 2019
\n Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
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Love, a complex and enigmatic emotion, has long captivated the human psyche. It is a force that drives us to connect with others, to form deep relationships, and to seek solace and fulfillment in our lives. Yet, the nature of love remains a subject of profound exploration and debate. In his book, "The Love That Lives There," Simon May offers a radical new perspective on love, challenging traditional notions and offering a fresh understanding of its true aim.

May begins by exploring the question of what love is. He argues that love is not merely an emotion or a desire, but rather an experience of ontological rootedness. This means that love is not just about our feelings towards another person or thing, but about our sense of connection to the world around us. Love provides us with a sense of belonging, of being part of something greater than ourselves.

May further argues that love is motivated by a promise of ontological rootedness, rather than by any of the traditional qualities that have been ascribed to it. For centuries, love has been seen as a search for beauty, goodness, wholeness, virtue, sexual or reproductive desire, compassion, altruism, or empathy. However, May suggests that these qualities are not the root of love, but rather a result of our desire to connect with something that we perceive as grounding our life.

One of the most powerful examples of May's new conception of love is found in the Western myths of the Odyssey and Abraham's call by God to Canaan in the Bible. These myths illustrate the idea that love is not just about our feelings towards another person, but about our connection to the world around us. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is driven by a desire to return home to his family, even though he faces countless challenges and obstacles along the way. His love for his family is not just a feeling, but a deep sense of connection to the world that he has left behind.

Similarly, Abraham's call by God to leave his homeland and travel to a new land is driven by a love for God and a desire to follow his teachings. Abraham's love for God is not just a feeling, but a deep sense of connection to something greater than himself. This connection is what motivates him to make the difficult decision to leave his home and embark on a new journey.

May goes on to re-examine the relation of love to beauty, sex, and goodness in the light of his new conception of love. He suggests that love is not just about our feelings towards another person, but about our connection to the world around us. He offers a novel theory of beauty, arguing that beauty is not just about physical appearance, but about the way

In conclusion, Simon May's book "The Love That Lives There" offers a radical new perspective on love, challenging traditional notions and offering a fresh understanding of its true aim. May argues that love is not just an emotion or a desire, but an experience of ontological rootedness that provides us with a sense of connection to the world around us. He suggests that love is motivated by a promise of ontological rootedness, rather than by any of the traditional qualities that have been ascribed to it. By exploring the relation of love to beauty, sex, and goodness in the light of his new conception, May offers a novel theory of beauty and suggests that we can love others for their ugliness while also seeing them as beautiful. Finally, he proposes that romantic love is gradually giving way to parental love as the most valued form of love in the Western world, and that childhood has become sacred and excellence in parenting a paramount ideal. May argues that the child is the first genuinely modern supreme object of love, the first to fully reflect what Nietzsche called the death of God.

\n Weight: 560g\n
Dimension: 167 x 243 x 26 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780190884833\n \n