Love: A Very Short Introduction by Ronald de Sousa

Author:Ronald de Sousa [de Sousa, Ronald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780199663842
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2014-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Two more puzzles diagnosed

The most constant wife in Greek mythology was Alcmene, wife of Amphitryon. So faithful was she that Zeus was unable to seduce her in any of the seduction disguises—swan, bull, or shower of gold—that had worked with other mortal targets of his lust. His last resort was to show up as her husband. As a god, he could assume all of Amphitryon’s qualities. The man who made love to Alcmene that night was indistinguishable from Amphitryon in all the focal properties for which she loved him. So why should she mind? Of course, history doesn’t say whether she did mind. But in analogous cases that have recently come before the courts, women have been known to win a rape conviction when the wrong twin took advantage of dim light. Despite possessing the right focal properties, Zeus was not the target of Alcmene’s love, so she too was raped despite her ostensible consent.

More puzzling is the case of Roxane, in Edmond Rostand’s play Cyrano de Bergerac. Roxane thinks she loves Christian, not just because he is handsome and brave, but because, as she falsely believes, he is the author of the witty and poetic words that are actually Cyrano’s. Cyrano too loves Roxane, but his disfiguring nose forbids him any hope of requital. Years later, long after Christian has been killed in war, Roxane insists she would love Christian for his poetic wit, even if he were ugly.

When the truth finally transpires, should we say Roxane really loved Cyrano all along? Here the difficulty is that there are two potential targets, and two sets of focal properties. Cyrano’s wit was the focus and a cause of her love. But Christian’s looks and bravery contributed as well. It was Christian whom Roxane kissed, and married, and mourned, even though he lacked the focal properties in which she thought her love was grounded. It was now too late to change the target of her love, even though it was picked on false pretences. Maybe she would have loved Cyrano (though she could be wrong about that); but as things stand, she loved Christian.

The lesson of these cases is that the target of love is a particular individual, not just whoever happens to have the right qualities. Even lacking the right qualities altogether may not matter. Once the target is picked, only that actual individual counts as relevantly similar. Targets of love are non-fungible. (An object such as a five pound note is ‘fungible’, when any other of equivalent value—any set of notes adding up to five pounds—is acceptable as a replacement). In many human relationships, including some sexual relations, persons are to some extent replaceable, insofar as they fulfil a certain role for the participants. Think, for example, of a sensible person arranging a marriage, or advertising for a ‘mail-order’ spouse. There will be a list of requirements exchanged. Those requirements may be stringent; but in principle any number of people could meet them.

The target of love, by contrast, is not a kind of person, however elaborately specified.

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