In Defense of the No-Reasons View of Love


Συγγραφέας: Aaron Smuts


Aaron Smuts: In Defense of the No-Reasons View of Love (pdf, 35 pages)
I argue that although we can try to explain why we love, we can never justify our love. Love is neither based on reasons, responsive to reasons, nor can it be assessed for normative reasons. Love can be odd, unfortunate, fortuitous, or even sadly lacking, but it can never be fitting or unfitting. We may have reasons to act on our love, but we cannot justify our loving feelings. Shakespeare's Bottom is right: "Reason and love keep little company together now-a-days." Indeed, they keep none and the never kept any: there are no justifying reasons for love.