Conditions of Love: The Philosophy of Intimacy

Rating:
Summary: a lovely book =)
Review: i know people arent suppose to judge books by its cover - i picked this up because i was attracted to 'jean - auguste-dominique ingres' work - (cover) ... i wasnt a an avid reader then...but this book- i got more than i expected from its cover. The essays included within each chapters were well satisfying to read word form word...Armstrong includes renown characters like Socrates, Eros, ...from other literatures like - wuthering heights...i got my money's worth with this book! i loved reading it...

Rating:
Summary: Remarkably wise
Review: The critic from "Publishers Weekly" quoted above must have been having a bad day when he or she read this book. Generally, that review manages to miss the point. Armstrong doesn't "critique" Socrates or Stendahl, etc.; he uses them to interrogate our experience of love and finds the kernel of truth they each captured, while also synthesizing these (and many other) perspectives into a coherent picture. There is nothing murky here, and certainly no failure to think through the positions. I'm a pretty fierce critic myself, and the clarity and coherence of this book seem to me to pass muster.

I picked this up while canvassing possible resources for my students in an advanced applied ethics course, hoping it would help with a section on sexuality. For that, it isn't to the point-that's not really the topic of the book. But I'm glad I found it, and I'll be recommending it to students and friends alike as a source of wisdom about love.

The question Armstrong sets himself is, What makes it possible for people to love each other, over the long haul, in satisfying ways? "Falling in love" rarely lasts, as we all know-the heat of early romance fades when faced with broader realities. Armstrong points out that modeling love on this transient incandescence means we simply cannot understand how to love-when we try to see enduring love as some sort of dilute form of romantic intoxication, we are trying to make it something it is not.

I don't know of another book that casts such a broad net in considering love. Armstrong understands, as almost no contemporary psychologists or therapists do, the history of human efforts to understand love. Thus, he includes in his thinking experiences, problems, and insights that escape the blinkered views of contemporary ideologies. A fair number of Greeks, for instance, had some interesting thoughts about love and its place in individual lives and in human relationships. As I've already mentioned, Armstrong sets these many experiences and insights side-by-side, uses them to interrogate our experience, and takes from each some guidance on his question. He thus unites his broad understanding of our history with contemporary psychology and sociobiology to produce a remarkably complex, nuanced account.

Yet the writing is clear, simple, and engaging. To synthesize so much diverse, often-subtle material into a complex and sophisticated account, then to write in a style that seems effortless-quite an accomplishment.

This could have been called "Love's Little Instruction Book for the Highly Intelligent." Devoid of smarm, rich in compassion, and informed by the best that has been thought or said on the subject across human history-well, it won't be jumping off the racks of the check-out line a Wally World, but it ought to have a honored place on the shelves of every well-educated person.

Rating:
Summary: Remarkably wise
Review: The critic from "Publishers Weekly" quoted above must have been having a bad day when he or she read this book. Generally, that review manages to miss the point. Armstrong doesn't "critique" Socrates or Stendahl, etc.; he uses them to interrogate our experience of love and finds the kernel of truth they each captured, while also synthesizing these (and many other) perspectives into a coherent picture. There is nothing murky here, and certainly no failure to think through the positions. I'm a pretty fierce critic myself, and the clarity and coherence of this book seem to me to pass muster.

I picked this up while canvassing possible resources for my students in an advanced applied ethics course, hoping it would help with a section on sexuality. For that, it isn't to the point-that's not really the topic of the book. But I'm glad I found it, and I'll be recommending it to students and friends alike as a source of wisdom about love.

The question Armstrong sets himself is, What makes it possible for people to love each other, over the long haul, in satisfying ways? "Falling in love" rarely lasts, as we all know-the heat of early romance fades when faced with broader realities. Armstrong points out that modeling love on this transient incandescence means we simply cannot understand how to love-when we try to see enduring love as some sort of dilute form of romantic intoxication, we are trying to make it something it is not.

I don't know of another book that casts such a broad net in considering love. Armstrong understands, as almost no contemporary psychologists or therapists do, the history of human efforts to understand love. Thus, he includes in his thinking experiences, problems, and insights that escape the blinkered views of contemporary ideologies. A fair number of Greeks, for instance, had some interesting thoughts about love and its place in individual lives and in human relationships. As I've already mentioned, Armstrong sets these many experiences and insights side-by-side, uses them to interrogate our experience, and takes from each some guidance on his question. He thus unites his broad understanding of our history with contemporary psychology and sociobiology to produce a remarkably complex, nuanced account.

Yet the writing is clear, simple, and engaging. To synthesize so much diverse, often-subtle material into a complex and sophisticated account, then to write in a style that seems effortless-quite an accomplishment.

This could have been called "Love's Little Instruction Book for the Highly Intelligent." Devoid of smarm, rich in compassion, and informed by the best that has been thought or said on the subject across human history-well, it won't be jumping off the racks of the check-out line a Wally World, but it ought to have a honored place on the shelves of every well-educated person.