The Four Loves Cs Lewis Summary

Is Affection Necessary for Happiness? The Four Loves, authored by British novelist C.S. Lewis, is often viewed as one of the best books written on the subject of love as it pertains to religion. In the book, Lewis covers many ideas including the four types of love which include: storgé (empathetic love/affection), philia love (the love between friends), Eros (erotic/romantic love), and Agapé (the unconditional ‘God’ love). In this book, Lewis also covers the differences between need and gift love; however, one of the most astounding statements that Lewis makes is in the storgé passage, specifically in the section about affection where he states, “Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our natural lives.” (pg. 53). Lewis also states, "The highest does not stand without the lowest. (pg.9) If affection is part of storgé, which is considered the lowest love, then to obtain the higher loves one must have affection. Furthermore, storgé (commonly referred to as affection) creates stamina in natural relations between people due precisely to that low-level nature it
Jarrett, PhD presented his findings from his study on the lack of affection and its affects in an orphanage/foster-care system by studying 2,000 participants. Dr. Jarrett’s findings while in line with the other sources, concluded almost exactly what Lewis described. Jarrett says that “eighty-three percent of foster children feel a lack of affection in the foster care/orphanage system and an overwhelming sixty-eight percent of those who felt there was a lack of affection also agreed that it contributed to their unhappiness” (Jarrett). Additionally, Jarrett goes on to say that “twenty-three percent of those whom participated in the study divorced their significant other claiming reasons of “Not having the same feeling for them anymore” (Jarrett). This goes on to show that one cannot have the higher loves if there is a lack of