Poets, Cynics and Thieves: Vicious Love and Divine Protection in Kierkegaard's Works of Love and Repetition

In Kierkegaard's Repetition , "the girl" on whom a young man focuses his esteem becomes an encumbrance from which a cynic must rescue him. Using Works of Love as the time through which we judge these men allows us to consider false love's perfidious perception of the (here female) other. Kierkegaard's sobering rendition of the love commandment in Works of Love , wherein the beloved is more than the beholder's vision of her, exposes that there is indeed a "girl" in the story and two men who would idolize, trick or banish her. In Works of Love , Kierkegaard distinguishes true love from the poetic perspective, which distorts the other to fit the lover's ideal; from the vampiric gaze, which devours her; and from the sage's inspection, which deems her disposable. Love unguarded by God's command endangers the beheld as well as the overlooked, and Kierkegaard skillfully depicts each of these three distortions in Repetition .     

Søren Kierkegaard and the Impossibility of (Un)Forgiveness

Discussions of forgiveness within Christian theology have tended to focus on the conditions in which forgiveness may be a moral or divine imperative for believers. With regard to Søren Kierkegaard’s theological ethics, this article explicates a radical perspective. For the Kierkegaardian Christian lover, no definitive relational break with the other (however objectionable) can occur. As Kierkegaard emphasizes in Works of Love, in a discourse which bears this sentiment as its title, “love abides.” Indeed, I illustrate how in three consecutive discourses in Works of Love—“VI: Love Abideth,” “VII: Mercy, a Work of Love,” and “VIII: The Victory of the Reconciliation in Love”—Kierkegaard’s ethical vision is grounded in Christian love’s immutability. For Kierkegaard, if Christian love is present, then forgiveness is redundant, and unforgiveness is impossible.     

How Kierkegaard can help us understand covering in Analects 13.18

I suggest that Kierkegaard proves a helpful interlocutor in the debate about Analects 13.18 and the meaning of yin 隱. After surveying the contemporary debate, I argue that Kierkegaard and the Confucians agree on three important points. First, they both present relational selves. Second, both believe certain relationships (God for Kierkegaard and tian 天 and the sages for the Confucians) are integral for moral knowledge. Third, both present a differentiated account of love where our obligations are highest to those with whom we are closest. Moreover, Kierkegaard’s ‘covering’ in the deliberation ‘Love covers a multitude of sins’ in Works of Love of ‘covering’ suggests innovative meanings for yin 隱 that are compatible with Confucian philosophy. Finally, I argue that sagely discretion in covering on the Confucian account is like the teleological suspension of the ethical.     

Potential space and love

Potential space is the term that Winnicott uses to describe the space of good parenting, therapy, creativity and aliveness. In this paper we associate this space with love. Love is not subjective, not an emotion that one subject feels for an object or even for another subject. Love is the primordial experience of infinite space; it is not an experience of unity but a meeting of sameness and difference. In order to distinguish love from the desire that a subject might have for one thing or another, infinite space needs to be distinguished from the familiar locational form of Euclidean space. We make this argument through a case study from our research on student–teacher relations, and through the theoretical work of Buber, Winnicott and Merleau-Ponty.     

WESTERN LOVE, CHINESE QING A PHILOSOPHICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE IDEA OF LOVE IN ROMEO AND JULIET AND THE BUTTERFLY LOVER

In the Chinese tradition] any kind of romanticism, of idealization, or quasi-mystical ardor is excluded. Love, such as we understand it since our twelfth century does not even have a name in their language. In Chinese the nearest approach to our verb 'to love' is a word which denotes the relationship between a mother and her son.… From the viewpoint of the idea of love, there are really two worlds, the Oriental and the Occidental.     

Meta‐analyses of love scales: Do various love scales measure the same psychological constructs?

Abstract: Two statistical meta-analyses synthesized 33 empirical studies which investigated the correlation between relationship satisfaction and two types of love: Erotic Love and Companionate Love, measured by various love scales based on four major theories by Rubin, Lee, Hatfield, and Sternberg. The results drawn by the Hunter-Schmidt method showed that satisfaction was highly correlated with Erotic Love, but that its correlation with Companionate Love was unclear due to heterogeneity in the total sample of the all Companionate Love studies. A moderator analysis indicated a potential moderator, that is, theoretical differences between Lee's Color Theory of Love and the other three theories. The result suggested that a Companionate Love named "Storge" in the Color Theory should not be mixed up with other friendship-style loves defined by other theories as the Storge subscale would measure a different psychological construct.     

Works of Love in a World of Violence: Kierkegaard,Feminism, and the Limits of Self‐Sacrifice

Feminist scholars adopt wide‐ranging views of self‐sacrifice: their critiques claim that women are inordinately affected by Christianity's valorization of self‐sacrifice and that this traditional Christian value is inherently misogynistic and necrophilic. Although Søren Kierkegaard's Works of Love deems Christian love essentially sacrificial, love, in his view, sets significant limits on the role of self‐sacrifice in human life. Through his proposed response to one who requests forgiveness, “Do you now truly love me?” Kierkegaard offers a model of forgiveness that subverts traditional ideals of the self‐sacrificing and submissive woman while keeping love central. The question asserts self‐love, involves redoubling and double danger, and expresses a refusal to imitate Christ's suffering. I propose a reading in keeping with Grace Jantzen's vision for a feminist philosophy of religion, which reads against the grain and “seeks to break through to new ways of thinking that may open up divine horizons.” My reading is further supported by Kierkegaard's contention that everything essentially Christian bears a double meaning. In light of the subversive potential found in the discrepancy between apparent love and actual love, as well as the duty to name the sin of one who has behaved in an unloving manner, I argue that Kierkegaard's philosophy of love resists simplistic understandings of self‐sacrificing love.     

Relation of sex and gender role to love,sexual attitudes,and self-esteem

One theory of love (J. A. Lee, The Colors of Love: An Exploration of the Ways of Loving, Don Mills, Ontario: New Press, 1973) assumes at least six different attitudinal orientations toward love. Based on Lee's approach, recent research (e.g., C. Hendrick & S. Hendrick, “A Theory and Method of Love,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986, 50, pp. 392–402) has found consistent sex differences in love attitudes. Other research has found comparable sex differences in sexual permissiveness and other sexual attitudes. The present study explored the possibility that gender role orientation might be related to differences in love and sexual attitudes. A sample of 286 college students completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), Love Attitudes Scale, Sexual Attitudes Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Correlational analyses revealed many significant associations among love and sexual attitudes, self-esteem, and masculinity and femininity. Subjects were also classified according to gender role as androgynous, masculine, feminine, or undifferentiated, according to BSRI scores. Analyses of variance showed effects for both sex of subjects and gender role orientation on several of the dependent measures. The pattern of the results suggested that sex-stereotyped couples may have difficulties in romantic relationships because of the discrepancies in their love and sexual attitudes. An argument was made in support of the recent trend toward a multidimensional concept of gender role orientation.     

II. Introduction to a reappraisal of fear and trembling 1

The idea of a knighthood of faith which involves a ‘teleological suspension of the ethical‘ is the most arresting feature of Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling. It amounts to a theological shock treatment. It is therefore understandable that critics and commentators who have discussed Fear and Trembling have focused their attention almost exclusively on this extreme notion of faith. Their preoccupation has been unfortunate, however.     

Love,care, control and punishment*

Love, care, control and punishment—each has its particular, though not exclusive, institution. Institutions are projections of our needs or the needs of the past. The family is the institution of love. Education, health and social services are the institutions of care. The police and the army are the institutions of control. The courts and the prisons the institutions of punishment.     

Love: gloriously amoral and arational

I argue that an evaluational conception of love collides with the way we value love. That way allows that love has causes, but not reasons, and it recognizes and celebrates a love that refuses to justify itself. Love has unjustified selectivity, due to its arbitrary causes. That imposes a non-tradability norm. A love for reasons, rational love or evaluational love would be propositional, and it therefore allows that the people we love are tradable commodities. A moralized conception of love is no less committed to treating those we love as tradable commodities; it is just that they are tradable moral commodities. An evaluative criterion of adequacy, I suggest, encourages the opposite view – a non-rational and non-evaluational concept of love. Such a love can set up partial obligations, which may even demand that one sacrifice one's life. Only a love that has causes but not reasons can have the kind of value that we think love has, and thus it would only be rational to pursue and foster such a love.     

Love Troubles: Human Attachment and Biomedical Enhancements

In fascinating recent work, Julian Savulescu and his various co‐authors argue that human love is one of the things we can improve upon using biomedical enhancements. Is that so? This article first notes that Savulescu and his co‐authors mainly treat love as a means to various other goods. Love, however, is widely regarded as an intrinsic good. To investigate whether enhancements can produce the distinctive intrinsic good of love, this article does three things. Drawing on Philip Pettit's recent discussion of ‘robustly demanding goods’, it asks what exactly we intrinsically desire in seeking love; it considers four possible outcomes involving attachment‐enhancements and attachments; and it considers two different pieces of news we might receive about our lovers' attachment to us (that it is, or that it is not, sustained with the help of enhancement‐technologies). Enhancement‐sustained attachment, it is concluded, is less desirable than the intrinsic good of love.     

The Risk of Obedience: A Consideration of Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling

This paper argues that Kierkegaard's defence of Abraham is in the first instance a polemic against the notion that the demands of faith are co-terminous with the best insights of practical reason. It is further argued that while no justification of Abraham's action at Mount Moriah may be offered, he is nevertheless to be admired for trusting in God beyond the limits of his understanding. Such trust is admirable, however, only in the context of a long life of obedience and love.     

KIERKEGAARD'S "NEW ARGUMENT" FOR IMMORTALITY

This essay examines texts from Kierkegaard's signed and pseudonymous authorship on immortality and the resurrection, challenging the received opinion that Kierkegaard's account of eternal life merely connotes a temporal, existential modality of experience as a present eternity. Kierkegaard's thoughts on immortality are more complicated than this reading allows. I demonstrate that Kierkegaard's ideas on the afterlife emerge out of a context in which the topic had been vigorously debated in both Germany and Denmark for more than a decade. In responding to these debates, Kierkegaard establishes a "new argument" for immortality that stands as a robust account of the Christian resurrection and highlights the power of a personal God at the center of life, death, and post-mortem existence.     

The measurement of Friendship-based Love in intimate relationships

Friendship-based Love (FBL) in intimate relationships may be defined as a comfortable, affectionate, trusting love for a likable partner, based on a deep sense of friendship and involving companionship and the enjoyment of common activities, mutual interests, and shared laughter. Theoretical derivation of the FBL concept is described, along with two versions of a new scale for its measurement. Two studies of the characteristics of Friendship-based Love with middle-aged married adults (N = 622) and dating young adults (N = 201) indicated that this type of love characterized the intimate relationships of both samples and was significantly and positively related to relationship satisfaction and to a variety of relationship characteristics. Discriminating comparisons of the FBL scale (both versions) with a revised measure of erotic love, with a revised measure of ludic or game-playing love with a variety of partners, and with Passionate Love also were conducted. Both versions of the Friendship-based Love scale showed substantial convergent and discriminant validity on the basis of correlational evidence (Studies 1 and 2), on multitrait-monomethod validity criteria (Study l), and via the method of contrasted groups (Studies 1 and 2).     

Love attitudes and romantic involvement: a replication and extension

Confirming Hendrick and Hendrick's (1988) findings with American college students, British students reporting they were currently "in love" scored significantly higher on the Love Attitude Scale dimensions of Eros and Agape but significantly lower on Ludus when compared to subjects not currently in love.     

Kierkegaard and the problem of special relationships: Ferreira, Krishek and the ‘God filter’

Kierkegaard??s Works of Love has often been accused of being unable to deal adequately with ??special relationships??. This debate has re-emerged in a fresh form in a recent disagreement in the secondary literature between M. Jamie Ferreira and Sharon Krishek. Krishek charges Ferreira with failing to acknowledge some important conflicts in Kierkegaard??s account of preferential love. In this article, I argue that some key passages are indeed insufficiently addressed in Ferreira??s account. Yet ultimately, I argue, Krishek ends up condemning the Kierkegaard of Works of Love unfairly. As a solution to Krishek??s concerns, I present a defence of Kierkegaard??s position centred round the image of God as a ??filter?? through which our loves must pass. Also, while acknowledging that Krishek raises some important questions for Ferreira??s account, I outline a possible response, based in part on Kierkegaard??s idea that neighbour love is only a ??sketch?? until brought to fruition in any given manifestation of concrete love. Ultimately, I claim, Kierkegaard??s position in Works of Love can indeed be defended from Krishek??s critique.     

Expressions of Preference and Other Morally Problematic Instances of Prayer

When considering the role of prayer in the lives of believers, most theists agree that one important effect is the psychological impact on the person who is praying. Nevertheless, the way many of us pray, by primarily or solely focusing on our welfare and the welfare of our loved ones, agitates the human tendency towards exclusion. If we take seriously God’s commandment to love the neighbor as the self, we should use prayer, instead, as a prime opportunity to help cultivate a moral character that embraces more inclusion. In this paper, I use Søren Kierkegaard’s Works of Love as a framework for working towards this more inclusive view of prayer—one that widens our moral circle and awareness to include all human beings, and not just the select ones we have chosen to prefer above all others. It does not follow that we are prohibited from praying for our own welfare or the welfare of our loved ones, but it does mean that using prayer in a way that only (or primarily) shows concern for those whom we prefer is morally problematic.     

Love deprivation, Wechsler performance greater than verbal discrepancy, and violent delinquency

This study explored the relationship among love deprivation, Performance greater than Verbal discrepancy, and violent crime in a sample of juvenile probationers. Love deprivation and P greater than V discrepancy was significantly related to violent delinquency after adjusting for the effects of both race and social class, two variables often closely associated with violent delinquency. Also, love deprivation was strongly related to P greater than V discrepancy. We speculated that high performance IQ scores relative to verbal scores are a function of a lack of disruption in the short-term memory mechanisms of high P greater than V subjects, that this nondisruption is a function of hyporeactive autonomic nervous systems, and that this hyporeactivity could itself be a function of early love deprivation.     

The concept of love in a Spanish representative sample

The model of romantic love and the acceptance of related myths have been granted wide relevance in our context. It has also been suggested that the concept of love can play a role in the origin and maintenance of gender violence. As an initial step towards researching this relationship, the objective of this article is to study the prevailing concept of love in the Spanish population, as well as to analyze any differences that gender and age may introduce in this conception. A reduced version of the Love Attitudes Scale was administered to a representative sample of 1,351 people. Results show that both men and women widely accept the love styles Eros, Agape, Storge and Pragma, reject the Ludus style, and are indifferent to the Mania style. However, the order of preference for love styles is different for men and women and for different age groups. These results are analyzed and discussed.