UQ philosopher completes labour of love

A collection of essays edited by a University of Queensland academic is believed to be one of the most analytical philosophical discussions of love since Plato and Socrates mused on the subject centuries ago.

The book, entitled Love Analyzed, consists of 13 articles by leading Australian, American and Canadian philosophers.

Philosophy Department lecturer Dr Roger Lamb began inviting articles from fellow philosophers four years ago and says many already had unpublished drafts of articles on the subject 'in their desk drawers waiting to be discovered'.

He said philosophers had only recently returned their attention to some interpersonal topics highly resistant to reasoned analysis: love and friendship. 'I guess you could say that, apart from a few very recent efforts, the last sustained discussions of love were by philosophers who lived several centuries BC,' Dr Lamb said.

'Love has been left to novelists, poets and songwriters to write about with modern philosophers rather preoccupied with the analysis of knowledge and science because of the enormous impact these have had on our lives.

'However, it could be argued love has equally enduring and profound effects in many lives. Moreover, in lives which may otherwise be rather dull, love can remind us of how alive we are, or re-invigorate us. It is therefore entirely natural that philosophers should direct their attention to it.'

Dr Lamb, who contributed one of the book's articles, said another significant feature of the book was that all but one article had been especially invited rather than re-printed from other publications.

'I approached philosophers who write in the area of moral psychology dealing with states such as jealousy, guilt and loyalty - reckoned to belong to the same general class of phenomena as love,' he said.

Published by Westview Press (a division of HarperCollins Publishers), Love Analyzed explores a variety of definitions of the topic. Dr Lamb said he preferred the definition - put forward by associate professor of philosophy at Tulane University, O. Harvey Green, in the chapter entitled 'Is Love an Emotion?' - of love as a 'set of desires with a particular kind of content'.

The book explores many aspects of love including jealousy. Professor of Philosophy at Ohio State University, Daniel Farrell, examines what, if anything, jealousy reveals about the jealous person.

In his chapter, Dr Lamb asks whether love is rational, and what it would mean if it were. He says that unlike other affective attitudes such as respect, pity and admiration, love tends not to be extended in a universalisable manner.

'If you admire a person because they exhibit kindness in a certain situation, it is rational for you to admire the next person if they too exhibit kindness in the same situation,' he said.
'However, if you love someone because they have particular qualities, it is not uncontentiously rational for you to love another person as well if they too exhibit the same qualities.'

He says one reason sometimes suggested for the particularity of human love makes reference to the moral notion of commitment. Dr Lamb then explores the nature and extent of commitment, and the question of whether its involvement in love is sufficient to save love's particularity.

In another chapter, University of New Mexico associate professor of philosophy Barbara Hannan examines what she terms 'bondage-love' - loving a person who does not return the love in the same degree and who occasionally seems to use the other person or treat them with contempt.

Using the experiences of the character Philip Carey from Somerset Maugham's novel Of Human Bondage, Dr Hannan investigates why some people who have experienced bondage-love tend to experience it repeatedly and, even when they escape the cycle, retain a sense of mild regret that such bondage-love is finally gone from their lives.

She says another form of bondage-love involves the wife or girlfriend who won't allow her partner to have any 'space'.

'She insists that he call her every day from his office; she wants him to be home every day at the arranged time; she is suspicious and petulant if he goes out with friends, or has any significant relationships apart from her. She is jealous and insecure, showing a ?clinginess' that becomes irritating and suffocating to her partner.'

Dr Lamb said the book, available from January 1997, was targeted at professionals, students and the contemplative public.

'Anyone who has loved or wants to be loved has surely thought about love's nature. There is nevertheless much confusion about love. This book offers some clarity and distinctness in intensive discussion about the topic,' Dr Lamb said.

'An integral part of being a properly developed human is to be reflective, not only to seek out and have experiences but also to think about them once having had them. Otherwise we don't learn from them.'

For more information, contact Dr Lamb (telephone 3365 2795).