Love and Friendship

Assignment 1: Short Answers 1. What problems does Solomon identify in attempts to ‘separate different “kinds” of love’? (Solomon, ‘In the Beginning, the Word’, p.7) In attempting to distinguish between different ‘kinds’ of love, Solomon explains that there are such a variety of feelings and emotions all lumped into the word ‘love’ that any kind of differentiation becomes difficult at best. Even between lovers within his ‘relationship love’ category there is such uniqueness that Solomon admits hesitation in using the same word. Based on Greek terms, Rollo May says that there are four classifications of love: sex, eros (the drive to procreate), philia (family or brotherly love), and agape (divine love). Solomon immediately dismisses sex as a lesser ‘kind’ of love, leaving us with the last three, but he then continues by stating that the terms eros, philia and agape are confused even in ancient Greek and can be made to mean practically anything if cast in the right light. He calls upon the example of a man killing his wife in the name of love, or a couple that seem to loath each other yet stay together because “they love each other” to exemplify his point. Can this be the same love that a happily married couple might share on their 75th wedding anniversary? Given this, Solomon argues that the term ‘love’ is so elastic and politicized that it has become a broad generalization of a subjective idea and that in fact, it has no real boundaries. He attempts to classify types of love by identifying the chosen object of the lover and the attributes of the relationship. He does finally distinguish romantic love from various other types by noting that it contains sexual, reciprocal, personal, and shared components. Still, Solomon must conclude that images, models, and metaphors from our society are largely responsible for obscuring the term, making further definition difficult. Word Count: 288

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