Love is a challenging and fascinating concept for philosophers. The word is an abstract noun, which for some is a word unattached to anything one can fully understand. Others argue that love is a choice, a conscious action. It’s also a verb used frequently and differently by people. For example: I love my wife, I love pizza, Don’t you just love the beach, We love to travel, I love my job, He loves his dog.

The reality is that there are many types of love, but the English language has just the one word (plus some equally ambiguous synonyms). The Greek language has three words for love:

• Philos means brotherly love. It’s also the root word of Philosophy. (Philos = Love; Sophos = Wisdom; Philosophy + Love of Wisdom.)
• Eros is a romantic love, the love between partners or spouses.
• Agape is love with all one’s heart, soul, and being. It is a godly love, a love God has for His created people and humans have for God.

Plato’s Symposium is a dialogue that features a series of speeches on love given at a party in ancient Greece. The speeches deal with questions of what Love is, interpersonal relationships through love, what types of love are worthy of praise, the purpose of love, and others. This all leads to the understanding of what we platonic love today.

Modern philosophers have become interested in how love is practiced (often seeing it as a choice), how is it sustained, and how one fosters it; in addition to simply what it is or what it means. 

Works Cited

Helm, Bennett. “Love:.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1 September 2001. plato.stanford.edu/entries/love

Kierkegard, Sören, et al. Kierkegaard’s Writings, XVI: Works of Love. JStore, 1995. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt24hpg2 

Mosely, Alexander. “Philosophy of Love.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d. www.iep.utm.edu/love

Plato. Republic, Book II. 360 BC. classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.3.ii.html 

Plato. Symposium. 360 BC. classics.mit.edu/Plato/symposium.html 

Wagoner, Robert E. The Meanings of Love: An Introduction to Philosophy of Love. Praeger, 1977. philpapers.org/rec/WAGTMO