What are the different forms of love and how many are there?

Question

Please read all before answering.

As part of a personal research project I have been investigating human emotions. Most interesting of all is the emotion of Love, since it seems to have many different forms and facets to it. Personally I have ID'd seven distinctive form of this emotion springing from different sources and stimulus.

My question is, Are there any people (philosophers) or groups (medical researchers, etc.) who have investigated love and what did they find?

Serious answers only please.

I thankyou in advance.

(P.S. Please don't answer with just a single word.)

Answer 1

72...and a half.
Just kidding.
Love has been studied for SOO long. It's interesting to see how perspectives on love have changed over time. for example, During the time period of Tristan and Iseult, courtly love was rising, sometimes in opposition to christian love. Courtly love was popularized by bards and troubadors. There were rules involved; it was an adventurous, adulterous love, that could really only exist when it was secretive and risky.
Christian love, mentioned before, found earthly love to be a celebration of love of God. Depending on the type (optimistic, pessimistic, mystic, etc) there was emphasis on the union or marriage, or on the physical experiences to become closer to God.
There are of course more modern views of Love as well. For example, John Alan Lee describes Love as a colour wheel: there are three primary types of love, and then secondary loves which are mixes of two of the three primary loves. Sternberg gives another description, and compares love to three dipsticks. each stick is a certain type of love, and different combinations of amounts of each love forms a different final love.

These are only a few types of love. You can go back to the ancient Greeks or earlier, and can find love there or now. Look to Frankl for love and suffering, Look to the greeks and romans for brotherly love as well as erotic love. Look everywhere, you can't go wrong.

Answer 2

A long time ago I thought that love was something that you reserved for some special set of people that you had judged worthy of it.

After a while I got to thinking about what Jesus had said about turning the other cheek and loving our neighbor I put the two together and realized that he had made no exceptions in these statements. It became obvious to me that he intended that we exclude no one from the love that we are supposed to be giving. I started thinking about my idea of love and suddenly realized that I had not been loving anyone at all. I had simply been judging everyone and every thing.

Judging someone worthy of love is not love, it is only judgment. I actually started to cry when I realized this. I saw just how much of my life I had wasted being judgmental, thinking of myself as a Christian, when I was actually doing just the opposite of what Jesus had asked us to do.

I thought about the verse judge not lest ye be judged, and I understood it for the first time.

I realized that I have a lot of catching up to do. So many opportunities were wasted. I now try to apply the love that I have for the world in a universal way like Jesus asks us to do.

If I start to feel afraid and think that I see someone that I should not love because of something I have thought or heard I try to catch my mistake as soon as possible. I tell myself that I have forgot the truth and have fallen for the same old trick that had cost me so many opportunities to be loving in the past. The horror of this realization is often all that is necessary to bring me back to my senses and make me drop the judgmental nonsense I was thinking.

I still have a lot to learn about love, but at least I’m making progress.

Love and blessings

Your brother
don

Answer 3

Well, I am not sure if any medical researchers have looked into love, but I know that so many philosophers have looked into it, written of it, and even described it. but the only thing that I have found of love is in the catholic religion. The catholic Religion considers those 7 types of love as the seven deadly sins. 1.Sloth 2.Greed 3.Envy 4.Gluttony 5.wrath 6. lust 7. Pride. These are the seven types of love. I believe that you have the same results as I do. I myself am still looking into it, trying to figure out how many people wonder the same things as I do. Please do keep in contact with me, and it is possible that we could discuss this further.

Answer 4

There are perhaps too many for us to know. Loving your friends is a different form of love than for your boy/girlfriend. Also there's a different love for your dog, your parents, and the list goes on.

Answer 5

types of love:
"Primary"
Eros - Love at first sight, based on physical attributes and is mostly physical arousal;
Storge - loving affection that develops over time, is primarily affection and commitment
Ludos - a rover and collector of loves, very pluralistic

"Secondary"
Mania - intense preoccupation with the loved one, intensly jealous and possessive, in need of constant reassurance of partner's love.
Pragma - looking for a compatible partner
Agape - Selfless, caring without self interest.

Answer 6

There is only one form of love - and that is caring with all your heart. It may manifest in many different ways and in different relationships but it is still love.

Answer 7

Love of parents/grandparents
Love of siblings/cousins
Love of friends
Love of spouse/partner
Love of children/grandchildren

Then:

Love of reading
Love of movies
Love of job
Love of co-workers/boss
Love of sports
Love of art/music
Love of nostalgia

Love of God