Do you believe in romantic love? Or do you prefer an explanation of attraction as cold chemsitry?
As the hormones take hold, are you 'swept off your feet'?
Or do you keep your feet, and your feelings, firmly rooted to the floor?
We all have our own beliefs and experience of love and attraction. But do you know the science behind both?
Here are two articles which deal with the topic. Read them and reflect.
- National Geographic: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/02/true-love/slater-text.html
- The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/28/sex-women-relationships-tanya-gold
For homework, write a literary critique (ie. a 'review') of the two texts for Monday 9 May, comparing and evaluating:
- the ideas they contain
- the selection and organisation of facts and examples
- the style they are written in and the language that is used
- the intentions of their authors and the reaction of any reader to them
- how 'good' or 'successful' each text is
Since always, people have seen love as something meta-physical and meaningful, but as a scientist person, I prefer seeing it as a chemical explanation. This doesn’t at all exclude the emotions and feelings which relate with love. I have felt in love, and I can assure it is wonderful and I still see it as science…
ReplyDeleteI can understand why people say a chemical explanation of love is cold but I do not share this opinion at all. I mean, if one accepts the reactions that occur, it will not change the feelings and emotions which we feel when we are in love. We are just going to know why we have those feelings, nothing more.
I am not the kind of person who believes in supernatural things and less on this topic but however, I understand that love is too difficult to understand as being chemical reactions. Indeed, I don’t really understand how but I believe people who do. Other animals have such a kind of love like ours and theoretically, they are not conscious. So, how can it be that, without any kind of neither language nor reasoning they are able to “love”?
I've just erased two questions. Comments should express your opinion, giving reasons and arguments. Questions can be asked by email. Neither entry was 'signed', so I don't know who to advise, hence the general statement. Please 'sign' your name on any entries. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIn general, can I say that the literary criticism of the two articles is generally very good indeed. Most of you focussed on the validity of the arguments and the style of the writing. Some of you commented on how important it is that science explain all types of phenomena, while others complain that such important feelings should not be reduced to chemical atoms.
ReplyDeleteWith the upcoming 'balloon debate', in which you take on the role of important or famous women from history, you will be finishing this term's work with its focus on gender and specifically, gender discrimination and representation.
Remember that the 'global exam' will include material from all three terms: the first, looking at creative writing; the second, looking at technology and visions of the future; and this one, looking at gender. In particular, the language from Cutting Edge studied during these terms will 'reappear' in the final global.
Thanks.
The word "love" can have a variety of related but distinct meanings in different contexts. For me, love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment that is between two persons of the same genre. So I do believe in love, and romantic love.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Santi A, because even though he has felt in love, he sees it as science, and I respect his opinion but I do not share it. Moreover, love has no relation with science because is something natural and that it happens so many little time during life, and anybody that have the opportunity, has to deal with it.
However, romantic love is contrasted with platonic love which in all usages precludes sexual relations, yet only in the modern usage does it take on a fully asexual sense, rather than the classical sense in which sexual drives are sublimated. So, romantic love is real and platonic love is idealized in our heads, this is the main difference between the two.
To conclude, romantic love makes life as if no problems exist because when you think about the person you are in love, problems simple disappear and preoccupations that exist. Many people think that if you are in love, this people live in a another world, like a fantastic world where everything is great, like in films, but yes, it’s wonderful, but what I’m trying to say is that romantic love exist and you can’t wait for it, it simple happens.
Santi NG
What is love?
ReplyDeleteThis is probably one of the most difficult questions for the mankind. I think it is impossible to give a proper definition for love.
For me, romantic love doesn't exist, it is completely false. In this sense I suppose I agree with Santiago, as I see love as a chemical state or addiction.
It's all got to do with your hormones and brain, just like any other attraction or chemical reaction in your body. Attraction doesn't come from your heart. Despite how cold and unromantic it may seem, love isn't magic, love is an a feeling that makes you feel attached to another person due to chemical reactions in your brain, so it's mainly psychological.
MARIO ROMEO
Philip Larkin once said, that the only thing that will survive in this world full of death and misery, is love, pure love.
ReplyDeleteWe can break our heads thinking and trying to find the real meaning of love, but we would be doing something useless and stupid. Mainly because there are many explanations and discussions about this theme, and the best thing is to choose the one that fits you.
Love, is what you feel, love is the only feeling that can make you jump out of bed during hard times. Love is everything...
You can also think that love is a process in which endorphins are released by the limbic system, to excite our senses, and to develop some of our brain glands...
You can choose between these general definition the one that best fits you. Or if you are like me, you can think that love is basic chemistry but still believe that it is also pure romance and passion.
Remember you are free to wish.
Before starting:
ReplyDeleteSharma, I have to say that your last paragraph reflects clearly the organisation of ideas in your mind: a chaos full of contradictions. Typical of you, isn’t it?
Now that I’ve got my conscience clear:
As a man of science, I want to give support to both Mario’s and “Lord’s” arguments. You can like it or not, but love is nothing more than a group of electric signals sent by the nerves, and some hormones released into the bloodstream. Scientists have not investigated it all, but the evidence is out there and you can’t deny it. However, there is always people that prefer conformity, choosing to believe what they were told when they were small; love is like in “Cinderella”.
You may not realize at first sight, but I’m sure that if you reflect on it you’ll find a link between love and the idea of God. I may be wrong, but I dare say that those who believe in God are more likely to believe in “romantic love”. It is in human nature, questioning everything and giving an illogical answer to it (if you aren’t able to find out the truth). It seems that some people just can’t live believing in anything.
The other point of view is being a 100% sceptical. In my opinion, the best decision is not believing anything you are told until you can prove it. It may be a bit extreme, but it’s certainly better than conformity. However, as Suree said, you have freedom of choice, so I’m not going to force you to stop believing in the love that appears in the fairy tales.
I hope that my opinion is clear. As I said: if you are doubtful, the best option is to accept reality as it is, don’t try to create a world of fantasy. If life, the society, the planet, or all them together are disgusting, try to make them better instead of covering your eyes or looking the other way. As Luis Buñuel once said “I would like to believe”, but once you have lost all faith, you have to fight for what you really have.
Miguel Pérez
in my opinon love is more than a simple chemical reaction it involves individuals it doesn't matter if it's men or woman or men and men, if love surges between a couple then let it be.
ReplyDeleteLove does not involve genders it can be felt by everyone and everyone has a need of it.
In my opinion love at first sight does not exist you fall in love with a person after being around them for a period of time love is growing feeling it doesn't appear instantly it grows over time but it is very quickly lost .
Hormones are related more to chemical reaction, of it's true when someone is in love they segregate more hormones and that makes them feel as if they were in false state of extasy about wha the couple do and with whom they do it .
Maxi Pfeiffer
I disagree completely with the idea of love being merely chemical or biological. Yes, it is true that both of these aspects help give an explanation for our sexual impulses. However love isn’t so simple. Love has so many ways of showing itself, it is very hard to give it an explanation, but love is, no doubt a subjective idea. I cannot think love is the same for me than it is for the person next to me. We are not the same, we do not think the same, we do not feel the same, and therefore we do not love the same. For us humans, loving comes naturally, we have a need for it. Other creatures don’t, that is why I believe it is not only a chemical matter.
ReplyDeleteHow can one explain love as something simply chemical? When one loves, one doesn’t only feel attracted by the smell of the other or even, by their physical appearance. It is the combination of everything that makes one love someone. What is extraordinary, though, is when we cannot explain it. Sometimes you don’t think much of people, you do not think them as specially attractive, or like their characteristics, and when first seeing them, you have no special opinion on that person. And then everything changes, you talk to that person and you realize you are happy, no matter what mood you were in, it can change the instant you see them after that. Sometimes you even try to talk yourself out of it, because you don’t even like that person’s personality, but you cant. You feel something. That something, is what I think of love. How can that be merely chemical? How can that not be an unexplainable feeling, that we have attributed to the word love?
Marta Guardiola
Miguel, as you said, my mind, is and will always be a bunch of ideas that are disorganized and that as you say, in occasions, contradict themselves. It's how i am and i am proud of it, and as Marlon Brando said; "Don't try to change me baby". No i'm just kidding.
ReplyDeleteWhat i meant on my "strange" comment, is that i know and accept that love is pure chemistry, but as i don't like very much this definition because i'm more romantic, i tend to think that love is much more than chemistry, and complex mathematical algorithms, i like to think that its something else;
What, i don't know?
love is a complex emotion and you can't control it. it sweeps you off your feet and dumps you back down whenever it feels like it. I believe in romantic love as it is a beautiful feeling which is worth it. I guess there is a chemical explanation for love but does that really mean romantic love can't exist? Yes you will understand what is happening to your body and your hormones but there is still a massive question mark over why you love that particular person and wether it will last. Love is exhilarating, fantastic and cruel. We will never understand the human brain and our relationships with other people. however that isn't a problem for me as I am happy not knowing. And not knowing makes it all the more exciting. True romance can fail but I think it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. love is a true adventure and the romance of it is the key.
ReplyDeleteso, in answer to the question posed my head says that love has a chemical explanation but my heart wants it to still be romantic, indecipherable, and a true adventure. i have an idealized and romanticized view of love but to be perfectly honest I don't want this view to change as I don't want to lose the romance of falling in love.
i would like to end my comment by showing you a quote that sums up the essence of love perfectly, in my view.
"One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love." - Sophocles
JACK ROBERTS
Even though i would have to agree with Santi, Mario and Miguel in the fact that love is most likely a complex sequence of chemical reactions, i still find it hard to understand and think that there has to be more to it. Love cannot just be a simple release of hormones and electric signals as if it were just that then why do we fall in love only every once in a while and with very specific people. I just cannot fully process it.
ReplyDeleteThe feeling, the stimuli that makes us feel the way we do must come from these reactions but there certainly is an element of doubt in the whole process. When does our body decide that it falls in love? How?
I don't think there will ever be a scientific explanation as, in my opinion, there isn't an explanatory element. We are just to believe the magic of the invigorating feeling.
In any case, i don't want to loose belief in love by attempting to explain it as if it we something normal and usual as i enjoy the enchantment of falling in love.
Flor T.
I would also like to ask Mr.Latham why he choose to put a picture of Ashley Greene and Joe Jonas in this post. From what i've read on the tabloids, i wouldn't consider them the best of example of love in a relationship.
ReplyDeleteEven though it was probably done at random, i am just curious as to know if there was a reason.
In my opinion, people like Santi and Suri tend to overanalyse concepts, and even if it can lead to meaningful discussions, it makes everything appear to be part of a textbook.
ReplyDeleteContrasting with most people who have commented, I dislike science, but I still like to find explanations to abstract concepts such as love. Anything in this world can be regarded as something scientific and empirical if that's what you want it to be; however, i don't think that's the way it should be.
To start with, the evidence of love being a chemical reaction is really poor; even so, i agree that there is scientific proof. However, what is the origin of those effects? Why are they not just consequences of love instead of its causes?
Regardless, and even though this is an interesting matter to adress, I don't share this need to find the truth behind everything. Does finding a cold and dull explanation of love lead to anything? It won't. Basically, it will take love's charm away and make us feel as victims of love instead of focusing on its benefits.
Why this need to find an explanation? I think love is just fine as it is. Whether it is chemical or ideal, people are still going to fall in love and no scientific facts or details can really change the way love has always been a main aspect in our society. I'm not affirming that love is always good, because I don't think it is, necessarily; but it is ever-present.
My conclusion is that you shouldn't start an investigation that can't lead to something productive or trascendental; and if you started to analyse everything, you would see everything has its drawbacks, which can be really depressing, in my opinion.
Andrea Iglesias
You waiting for someone to explain all about love in a few sentences, and it's really difficult to define.
ReplyDeleteLove is the abstract link you have with someone who you believe is greatest in the world. To find out if you are in love or not, there's not much to do, just look out how nervous you get, the strange feeling you get on your stomach, when you see the person you desire.
When you really love someone, you try to stand on their feet and actually do things for her/him to be happy. Not a selfish feeling, based on how much I love you, how much I need or how I would like you to do everything I want, but a more mature love, more selfless. How to collaborate to make you happy, how do you feel good, or make you feel important ...
This cannot be written, it is something everyone shall go through at least once.
P ol Hevia
How can a romantic or cold chemistry love exist or how hormones react in these situations?
ReplyDeleteThose are questions in which people in the society that we live in don’t stop to think.
Love is a thing that appears by its own that is provoked by the person you like!!
I would say that love is more like a sentimental thing rather than a scientific aspect. But this is only my opinion and I don’t care what biologists or scientists say about this.
Normally nowadays, people are still afraid of seeing love as a chemical thing. It makes people be confused and in the worst of the cases afraid about all this scientific conspiracies. I’m also a scientific person like Santiago but in this case I completely disagree with science.
Dani
I'm writing about love between a couple.
ReplyDeleteLove for someone that doesn't know science is like magic something a woman has that atract the man which sometime is very difficult to explain this bond. Love is not only based in sex, although sex is a essential part in a love relationship, is also based on spending good times with your girlfriend.
In my opinion what scientist discovered about love, has ruined the magic thing of love as if love was simply a chemical equation and no more than that.
Scientist have reach a point were this chemical equation has entered in the perfume market. You'll ask yourself's Why? because some man or woman are interested in smelling good in a way that atracts the opposite sex.
In my opinion chemical are not needed for love, its demostrated as past years without this chemical, love has progresed with no extra love essences.
KYLIAN PATTJE