
Welcome to my journal! 
Here is my opinion, together with research, about several of the questions surrounding the concept of passion. Please remember that these are my opinions, and that you are encouraged to study and create your own. If you have any new or different views, please post a reply here or send them to my email account What_Is_Passion@hotmail.com . I'd be glad to hear from you and discuss anything that you'd like on a one-on-one basis. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks so much for your support! ![]()
What is this phenomenon that we call love? According to the Funk and Wagnall's Standard Desk Dictionary (page 384), love is "A deep devotion or affection for another person or persons" and, "A strong sexual passion for another person."
What have the Greek philosophers of our past considered love to be? Do their opinions coincide with your own, or do you have a different opinion? Read the views below and decide which answer best describes your view. What do you agree with and disagree with? Why?
* According to Hobbes, love cannot be anything but one individual trying to dominate over another, because human nature is vain and selfish. ("Philosophy Questions & Theories" , 28-29)
* Butler claimed that self-love was necessary and healthy, but that we also have benevolence, which makes us want to help others. The two never collide. Therefore, we are altruistic when it comes to love. We satisfy our needs and then seek to help others fulfill theirs. (Ibid., 29)
* We have a moral conscience which makes us do good things. Therefore, we only do good things out of obligation in order to preserve our best interests. Therefore, we are egoistic, and love is simply a way of fulfilling our selfish desires. (Ibid., 29)
* Love may be a result of the human desire to make ourselves happy. If we help others we feel good about ourselves, and make ourselves look good.
* Love is a fallacy. It uses dicto simplicter ("an argument based on an unqualified generalization") and hasty generalizations (reaching a generalization too quickly). We assume that what our senses tell us are true, and that we have complete control over our emotions, which may not be so. (bid., 82)
* Love also uses post hoc, which is stating that something happens as a direct result of something else, even though there is no logical connection between the two. For example, one might say that whenever the person that they love is around, it becomes sunnier outside and the hours are shorter. However, the individual has no control over it at all. Love can also use ad misericordiam, which is appealing to our sympathy. Love leads us to believe that the individual needs us to survive, when in reality, they do not. (bid., 81-82)