Can "human love" be absolute?

Question

I am of the opinion that all human love including romantic love is subject to meeting mutual expectations. In that sense how deep human love is, can only be described with respect to it's intensity. So human love, I think can only be described on a scale for example 1 to 10, 1 meaning the least degree of love and 10 meaning the highest degree of human love where one will not hesitate to put his/her life on line for another.

But even at the highest degree, can human love be considered absolute like agape love?

Answer 1

i think it can, i know my love for my child, to me, transends all other things, is more intense then any emotion i ever imagined i would have. it even goes way beyond putting my life on the line for her,,,, while im not sure i like to admit it, if someone tried to harm her,, i would take them out, without a thought or question,,, and i dont expect anything in return, that has nothing to do with it,,,,,

Answer 2

Before attempting to answer this question, I must ask, by what standard are you writing of “absolute”?

It is interesting that you mentioned one of the four (Eros (ερος) Agape (αγαπη) Philia (φιλια) Storge (στοργη)) Greek concepts for love. You referred to agape as the absolute love. Agape is a love towards one's neighbor which does not depend on any loveable qualities that the object of love possesses. Of the four it is the most selfgiving, dependable love. However, can it be places in the category of absoluteness?
I think an absolute love can only be had by an absolute being. Humans are far from absolute. I think humans can be capable of a very strong love, like agape; but are incapable of anything beyond the finite realm.

Answer 3

I think that you are on the right track with your thinking. Unconditional love is a childish fantasy encouraged by fairy tales, media and parents trying to hard to maintain their children's innocence. If love was unconditional, then I could just come across a bum on the street and fall in love with them. Of course, it doesn't work that way. Even the most intense love is based upon what the people do for each other. Parents and their children usually share a very intense love, but that is because the parent ensures the survival of the child and the child carries on the legacy of the parents. A married couple can have a very happy, fulfilling, loving relationship, but they love each other because they provide each other with whatever makes them happy or provides fulfillment. To love someone with no reason whatsoever would be insane, probably the result of some type of deep psychological or neurological disorder. And that hardly seems desirable.

Answer 4

The 'answer' to that question is contained within it. Why put quotations around 'human love'? Because it is assumed that there is some other type of love. If there is some other type of love (eg the love of god etc), then human love is not absolute. One would only ask a question about absolutes if one already thinks that such things exist, otherwise why ask about them? Now, if you share my view that absolutes either do not exist or are not attainable/knowable (which comes to the same thing, even though it is different), then you would of course stop asking about absolutes and take the view that there is only human love, so the question of whether it is absolute or not is unneccessary.

Answer 5

I am a person who believes MY LOVE is absolute but I don't believe human love is absolute. When I met my husband and he met me, we had a mutual meeting of expectations because we had the same expectations: we wanted to find true love and stay in love till death does us part. My LOVE is a 10; no human love can't be agape love because most humans wouldn't do that. I would for my husband, though.

Answer 6

I believe it depends on the person and how they were raised. if a child was shown love (unconditionally) then the rate would be 10. I am probably a 8. i would put my life on the line for a child, every day most people put their lives on the line to support their families they are a 10. There are some that are a 1 because they only care about #1 (themselves)

Answer 7

I always had a belief that true human love is in itself absolute. Most people might agree with me for the nature of love usually portrayed in literature and media is seen as everlasting and people involved are often living "happily ever after". My opinion is that love, is absolute. And evidences that prove otherwise are results of conflicts in personal agenda. Etc. both parties do bnot agree on things which they ultimately find crucial and more important to the relationship they share. From this point of view, i do not agree that love should be discussed as an object with calibration or varying levels of intensity or the strength of a chemical reaction as described by some who found to be the origin of our feelings.

Answer 8

I wouldn't think so. We think we love, yet with no real understanding I think cannot make it absolute. Agape love is something that translates to me as simple interest and innocence or curiosity. It's something you don't understand, and the unexplainable cannot be described if we do not comprehend it. We feel "happy" but we can only say why, not the feeling of it. It's claiming to understand what we really don't comprehend.

I really don't know where my answer is going, so I apologize.

Answer 9

I give unconditional love to my children. That doesn't mean that I spoil them. If they misbehave even at 18, I accept my children for who they are, but I do not accept the bad behaviour, but when they apologize, I always forgive and love is always given. That is unconditional and absolute! I feel this way about my friends, too. Unfortunately, not all people see life this way. If more people did, I think we'd have a better place in this world.

Answer 10

So what you are saying is that you have never experienced "agape" love.

Too bad.....Its hard to understand something you have never experienced, without faith in the possibility of it.

Good luck.
cheeseball
on a scale of 1 to 10
expectations were never met
with respect to it's intensity