Love troubles : a philosophy of eros /
Love has been a frightening yet exciting problem for individuals and communities since ancient times. What is love? Does it give us purpose, orientation and meaning, or is it scary, dangerous, to be avoided? Love Troubles: A Social Philosophy of Eros is an exploration of erotic love through the lens...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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New York :
Columbia University Press,
[2024].
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| Series: | New directions in critical theory.
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| Summary: | Love has been a frightening yet exciting problem for individuals and communities since ancient times. What is love? Does it give us purpose, orientation and meaning, or is it scary, dangerous, to be avoided? Love Troubles: A Social Philosophy of Eros is an exploration of erotic love through the lens of critical social philosophy, drawing on a wide range of philosophical texts as well as narratives gathered from poetry and novels, films and music. The place and value of love are perhaps more deeply contested now than at other times in the recent past. Feminists criticize its association with male dominance and violence, while all too often economic considerations take precedence in mating rituals, yet we are increasingly lonely, no longer even looking for partners. But the central hypothesis that motivates Love Troubles is that all these troubles are good news. They invite us to reflect upon eros, considered as both passionate sexual love and as intense friendship, as a slippery, liminal form of love, situated at the threshold between intimate and private and public and political. It is a surprising and effective critical tool that has received little attention from social philosophers and at the same time a resource for political agency, resistance and transformation for freedom. As Audre Lorde has argued so convincingly, we realize freedom collectively, moved by the affects and emotions that our lovers and friends inspire in us. |
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| Physical Description: | xi, 264 pages ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780231217620 0231217625 9780231217637 0231217633 |