Robert C Solomon writes a lot about love in his book “The Joy of Philosophy“. In particular he argues that love is a virtue.
I am going…to defend what we now call romantic love, erotic love, as a virtue – indeed as an exemplary virtue. I want to defend what one might call enthusiasm as a virtue, the enthusiasm born of love’s attachments being the most obvious example.
and, later
The passionate attachment of one person for another is a virtue.
To love another, and to be enlivened by that love, to live a better, richer life because of that love, for love of another to be the source, the fountainhead of an enthusiastic, passionate engagement with life…….that’s the challenge. I don’t think we talk enough about this kind of love these days. In Professor Solomon’s terms we tend to think about love rather more “thinly”……we reduce it to something less than it can be.
As he says, love creates love –
Love tends to build on itself, to amplify with time, to find – through love – even more reasons to love.
Whilst it might be true that an unexamined life is not worth living, it’s even more true that a loveless life doesn’t feel worth living.
Love (or loving) itself is the virtue, a virtue so important that rationality pales in significance.
Heroes Not Zombies 
Interesting….and ironic given that by definition, “philosophy” is not the *study* of wisdom (“sophology”), but the love (philes or philos) of wisdom…. š
Hi and thanks for this comment. Yes, Robert Solomon makes this very point in his book – he says that philosophy is exactly what you say – the LOVE of wisdom – yet, sadly, so much philosophy has become an academic mind game and, as such, has become sterile, or as he so nicely puts it – thin!
Gukseon,
Thank you for reminding me about philos. And, yes Bob, how education can destroy a love of learning. It’s criminal.
I’m barely educated (B.A. Fine Art), so most of my learning has been of the autodidactic variety. But I harbor a deep resentment of so-called educational institutions. They may be fine for the sciences, but there has to be better ways of learning.
I haven’t read the learned gent’s book, but my gut reaction is that erotic love is not a virtue. It is a biological imperative.
I admit, I went to art school because that’s where the girls were. I was in love with loads of them. Being a young fellow with nature yelling in my ear to procreate, I was completely distracted by all that attractive femininity. I may not have procreated but I went through the motions as it were.
Was this all a virtue? No, it was biology. I did love those girls. I thought I did. Or I was in a state of in-love a lot of the time, often with more than one.
But this wasn’t mature love, caring or companionate love. It wasn’t love as service. I think love is care, compassion, interest, and service. It’s taken my decades to get to this place. My art school eroticism was just a feeling (being in love) and I don’t believe that is love at all. Nature will have her way with us in the end of course, but she doesn’t have our individual interests at heart when it comes to having offspring.
I’m not sure one can do anything selflessly. Even the seemingly selfless act has its reward. So I don’t even know what virtue is other than what we make it up to be.
How nice to see you Christopher – I ALWAYS appreciate your thoughtful comments and I LOVE your sense of humour too.
Maybe what I don’t convey in these reviews of Solomon’s book is how I believe that as you read his work you can see the reflection of the sparkle in his eye. He is having FUN! That’s one of things that so resonated with me about writing – he is passionate and he is arguing for passion as the quality (or virtue) we should hold the highest. It’s the antithesis of the usual writings on virtues which argue for moderation, limits and holding back.
In that light, it strikes me passion and love (compassionate, caring or erotic) are two of YOUR best developed virtues!