In the Name of Love

An ideal marriage is considered to be one which is based on passionate love. However, there are good marriages which last for a long time without passion. Read More

Relevance is a key factor underlying the intensity of our emotions. Something which is relevant to our self-esteem generates intense emotions. Relevance is also important in romantic love. The issue of whether partners consider each other to be relevant to their self-esteem and goals is significant in falling in love and in maintaining it. Read More

Love is considered to be one of the most wonderful experiences of life. We are yearning all our life to be in love. So why do many people fear the light of love and often deliberately shun this light? Read More

Ideals have an important function in our life—they inspire us to improve our situation. But often these ideals are merely unattainable: far beyond our capabilities and often lacking in practicality. What should we do when we cannot find the ideal love we have been dreaming of for most of our lives? Read More

 A promise is a kind of declaration in which you say that you will do or refrain from doing something in the future. Can we predict the future?
Is it proper to make romantic promises? Can we promise to love each other for the rest of our life? Can we promise to be faithful? Read More

Love is often considered to be the most profound expression of freedom-you let your heart lead the way to what you really want. But often love is considered to be a kind of restrictive chain that prevents you from doing what you really want to do. Why should someone want to be unchained from love, the greatest pleasure on earth? Read More

The cyberspace era could be considered as the best and worst of times for lovers. This is indeed both a happy and a difficult time for lovers-happy in that available, willing potential lovers are all around; difficult in that maintaining a loving committed relationship is harder than before as alternative romantic options are easier to explore and to realize.   Read More

 Disgust is a strong sense of aversion to something that we perceive as capable of contaminating us: either in physical terms, referring to bodily infection, or in more symbolic terms, referring to violating the boundaries of the self. In light of its intense negativity, disgust cannot be part of love. Read More

 What does it mean not to get enough of the beloved? Does it mean that the relationship entails a scarcity of love or an abundance of love? And if the latter, how can the spring of love be endless? Read More

Many love songs speak about the lover's wish to be with the beloved "always" or "all the time." This wish can express two different desires: (a) wanting to be with the beloved for the rest of one's life, and (b) wanting to be with the beloved every day as much as possible.  The second wish, which underlies deep love, is more rare and profound.   Read More

The egalitarian claim that it is desirable for everyone to have the same as other people (in terms of opportunities, money, and other goods) is central to our notion of morality. In my view, in the romantic realm the value of this claim is questionable. We should speak about a good enough partner, rather than the perfect person.  Read More

 Romantic love is not egalitarian; rather, it is discriminatory because it entails the following aspects: (a) the beloved is accorded a unique status, and (b) certain people, such as the handsome and the rich, who enjoy a privileged status. Cyberspace is more egalitarian in both senses; it enables each person to maintain several relationships at the same time and it reduces the advantages of the handsome and the rich. Read More

 In what follows, I will argue in support of the following seemingly non-intuitive claims: (1)Compromises are mainly concerned with what one does not have and not with what one has; (2)Greater freedom increases the need for romantic compromises;(3)Modern lovers experience both greater frustration and greater love. All these claims make the life of modern lovers much more complex. Read More

In order to explain and understand emotions, we can divide them into two groups: The emotions we term 'positive' and those that we term 'negative'. On this issue, there are two major claims that appear to be contradictory: (a) that negative emotions are more noticeable, and (b) that, because people typically consider themselves to be happy, the average person considers herself to be happier than the average person. How can this apparent paradox explained? Read More