Conditions of Love

What does it really mean to love another person? Is there such a thing as the "perfect partner"? How does infatuation differ from the real thing? The need to love and be loved is central to our idea of happiness, yet it sometimes seems that the more we reflect on it the more elusive it becomes. In this lucid and graceful meditation on the deeper meanings of intimacy, John Armstrong explores the ideas that have shaped how we view affairs of the heart. Drawing on poetry, novels, philosophy, paintings and music, he shows how love is inextricably bound up with perception and the imagination: that loving a real, complicated person and being understood and valued by them in turn is not something we find, but rather something we create.

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