Aristotle on Love – From My Perceptive

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How should we look at love? It is merely a vice to be intimately involved with another person? Is it separated into superior and inferior types? Phaedrus, you have done a good job of conveying the strong emotion of love. Love is not a faint or weak thing. There are aspects of love which include much depth and are not for the weary hearted. Pausanias, you have well explained the sexual desires as a result of love. Love is complex, but not in a heavenly and common way, but all love is common. Love is a virtue. Love is good and pleasant. It is one single soul inhabiting two bodies. It does not judge. It should not be solely based on benefit, but the best kinds of love should be a mutual feeling. There are many different kinds of love. There is love of affection, romance, friendship, and unconditional love. The good thing about love is that it strives for a common goal. People love and want to be loved. It brings immense joy to those who can fully embrace it. Considering the idea that there are four types of love, some of these loves must be inferior and others must be superior.
Love of affection is the emotional outburst between two beings that is not forever. Affection can be compared a lot to lust. Lust is a type of passion that can overwhelm an individual very quickly, but as quickly as it comes, it could fade away. Lust in less provocative terms is like having a crush on someone. Unless this type of love is reciprocated, it can never grow. There is only one way for this love to go. It will decrease over time because people love and hope to be loved in return. Without this, they will have no reason to continue feeling affection for this person and their feelings will wither away.
Romance and affection go hand in hand, but roman...

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...ve could falter or fail. Even if there was a rhyme or a reason against the person being loved, the lover would not give up on them. This is the strongest kind of love. It is not based on utility or pleasure, but pure unadulterated love.
There are many kind of love and all but unconditional love has its limits. Time and value play huge roles in these loves. They all contain some aspect of affection, but they are examples of what happens if affection grows. Romance is what happens when affection is reciprocated with sexual intent. Friendship is the product of when affection is reciprocated with the intent on bringing happiness into the relationship. Unconditional love includes affection, but it is mainly the love than cannot be unshaken. People can fall out of love, they can fall out of lust, they can end friendships, but unconditional love is the greatest of these.

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