A Passion for Life : Love and Meaning

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

32 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Does one’s love for a particular person, when it is pure, also constitute a love of life? The significance of speaking about leading a passionate life, I submit, is found in the spontaneous, embodied character of opening up to and finding meaning in one’s life rather than in heightened fleeting feelings or experiences of meaning that help one forget life’s meaninglessness. I contrast this view with Simone Weil’s suspicion that our passionate attachment to another person is an obstacle to attending to him or her from the distance proper to love and friendship. From that perspective it appears as if the meaning with which personal love endows life is mostly illusory, including the loss of meaning characteristic of grief. I question whether Weil’s view should be seen as an unconditional, though for most unattainable, ideal of love, or if it is rather expressive of a rejection of one of the central features of love: the vulnerability that ensues from the recognition that when we love there are times where we stand in need of the other’s love to be able to embrace life as meaningful.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)31–51
JournalNordic Wittgenstein Review
Volume6
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • love
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein
  • Simone Weil

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A Passion for Life : Love and Meaning'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this