I’m working on an essay about “love” as a virtue, where a “virtue” is a characteristic habit that contributes to (or exhibits) human flourishing. I’m aiming to make the essay of practical value, so a focus on what love is good for and how to get better at it.
“Love” is notoriously difficult to get a handle on, both because the word covers a bunch of things and because it lends itself to a lot of sentimental falderol. My current draft is concentrating on three varieties of “love”: Christian agape, Aristotelian true-friendship, and erotic/romantic falling/being in love.
Anyway: that long preamble aside, if you know of any sources I could consult that would help me along, I’d appreciate the pointers.
Allan Bloom’s Love and Friendship is an interesting collection of essays discussing love and friendship in literature (Rousseau, Stendhal, Austen, Flaubert, Tolstoï, Shakespeare).
I’m working on an essay about “love” as a virtue, where a “virtue” is a characteristic habit that contributes to (or exhibits) human flourishing. I’m aiming to make the essay of practical value, so a focus on what love is good for and how to get better at it.
“Love” is notoriously difficult to get a handle on, both because the word covers a bunch of things and because it lends itself to a lot of sentimental falderol. My current draft is concentrating on three varieties of “love”: Christian agape, Aristotelian true-friendship, and erotic/romantic falling/being in love.
Anyway: that long preamble aside, if you know of any sources I could consult that would help me along, I’d appreciate the pointers.
Allan Bloom’s Love and Friendship is an interesting collection of essays discussing love and friendship in literature (Rousseau, Stendhal, Austen, Flaubert, Tolstoï, Shakespeare).