Love is a complex feeling that can be felt for many different things. The feelings of affection that one feels for family members, friends, pets and even strangers can be described as love. In the case of romantic relationships, it is often referred to as “being in love.” This includes feelings of sexual arousal and attraction as well as companionate attachments.
People may have different opinions about the characteristics of love, but they generally agree that there are at least some common traits that it involves. These include feelings of intimacy, passion and commitment. Love is also associated with a variety of emotions, including feelings of euphoria and anxiety. It is important to understand the nature of these feelings and how they relate to each other to fully appreciate what love is.
One common view about the nature of love is that it is a form of attachment that creates a sense of closeness and security between individuals. This is called the attachment theory of love. This view argues that the emotional bonds created in intimate relationships are stronger than the bonds created between strangers. This makes it harder for people to abandon their relationships.
This is an evolutionary advantage that humans have over other animals, and it explains why our relationships are so important to us. Another popular theory of love is that it is a process of elation and arousal, with the emotions involved resulting in a desire to be with the person being loved. This is a strong basis for the idea that romance is a key ingredient in most love stories.
A third theory of love is that it is a complex emotional attitude towards someone, and that this attitude includes a range of interconnections and a variety of evaluations. This is sometimes referred to as the emotion complex view, and it seems to offer some promise of being able to address the problems with the other types of views of love. The emotion complex view seems to offer an account of the intuitive “depth” of love that avoids the excesses of the union view and the overly narrow teleological focus of the robust concern view.
The fourth theory of love is that it is a matter of bestowal, and that it includes a commitment to the beloved and a judgment of her value. This is a relatively new theory of love, and it has generated considerable controversy. It offers some intriguing possibilities for understanding the complexities and depth of love, but it also has problems that seem to deserve further discussion. We will look at these problems in more detail below.