Love: A Survey in the History of Philosophy

Catalog description

This course will be a survey in the history of philosophy on the question of what it is to love another person. We love our friends, we love our family, we love our romantic partner(s). But what is it that we do, or what kind of state are we in, so to speak, when we love them? Moreover, what are the differences between these kinds of love, or are they essentially the same? This course will survey these questions by reading some philosophers in the past who wrote on the subject matter. We will begin the course with the writings of the Ancient Greeks, particularly Plato and Aristotle, and then we will move on in the chronological order, and read the writings of Cicero, Montaigne, Bacon, Kierkegaard, among others.