Loving persons

activity and passivity in romantic love

Michael Kühler

pp. 41-55

in: Christian Maurer, Tony Milligan, Kamila Pacovská (eds), Love and its objects, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014

Abstract

The title-giving phrase "loving persons' is meant to comprise two meanings, marking a twofold focus with regard to an analysis of romantic love. First, it refers to the subject of love, thus pointing to the question of what it means to be a person who loves. Second, it refers to the object of love, thus pointing to the question of what it means to love a person, as opposed to loving things or animals. In order to shed some light on these basic questions, I will concentrate on two essential conceptual features of "loving persons," namely, activity and passivity, which, I contend, play a pivotal role in our understanding of romantic love.¹ Furthermore, the notion of romantic love as I use it in this chapter should not be confused with infatuation. I simply use the term to refer to the love of, or between, (adult) persons who wish to establish or already have established a close personal relationship because of this love, which usually includes a sexual component.