Overview

Lovers know that love is both vast and intense. This would seem to make it resistant to philosophical or rational analysis. Yet love's vastness and intensity are what carry it into all spheres of our lives--ethical, political, spiritual, physical. As a result, considerations of what it means to love and to be loved, and what is worth loving and worth being, are inextricable from our most deeply-held commitments in ethics, politics, religion, and metaphysics. Love is impossible then for philosophers to ignore--which explains, at least in part, why love has been a central concept of philosophical inquiry over the last several millennia, in the west and beyond. The aim of this volume is twofold. First, it chronicles the most significant moments in this concept's long and remarkable evolutionary life, ranging from ancient Hebrew and Greek and Christian conceptions of love to those advanced by thinkers from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and Levinas. Second, in addition to profiling these discrete historical moments, this volume also aims to tell an interconnected story. Like other volumes in the series, the book is interspersed with short reflection chapters that touch on an array of people and subjects including Martin Luther King, Jr., Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and Platonic love poetry, which supplement the work's philosophical discussions.

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Ryan Patrick Hanley is professor of political science at Boston College. He is the author of several studies on Enlightenment political philosophy. Rachel Yong is a SAG-AFTRA stage/film/voice actor and professional narrator for both audiobooks and long-form journalism. She currently narrates with Penguin Random House, Sony's podcasting division, Let's Hear It! Studios, and TDW+Co. She is a two-time Best Actress winner through the Asian American Film Lab and won Best Animation performing as Herman in Herman and Mr. Pointdexter. In the acclaimed historical memoir Remembering Shanghai, she utilizes sixty-plus different character voices, including in Mandarin. Her family background is Cantonese. Tim Lounibos is a longtime film/TV actor whose credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, JAG, The West Wing, Bosch, and NCIS. Tim's voice has been described as rich, soothing, expressive, gritty, and honest. He loves bringing conflicted heroes, misunderstood characters, wise elders, and sinister antagonists to life. His favorite genres include fantasy/sci-fi, crime, mystery/thriller, YA, horror, self-help, and biography. When not acting, Tim enjoys playing board games, solving escape rooms, and laughing and hanging with family and friends.

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