is love ultimately a selfish emotion?

Answer 1

Yes, but I don't think that's a bad thing, because healthy love, though motivated by selfishness, will be mutually beneficial.

Answer 2

Imagine an invisible, undetectable force that's powerful
enough to override your sense of reason yet draws you
to someone with an almost animal passion. These aren't
Cupid's mythological arrows, but real shots of human
pheromones.

http://health.discovery.com/centers/sex/aphrodisiacs/phermones.html

Welcome to The Scent of Eros:
Mysteries of Odor in Human Sexuality -

'Scientists in Philadelphia have established for the first
time that the human body produces pheromones, special
aromatic chemical compounds discharged by one individual
that affect the sexual physiology of another'....

http://www.athenainstitute.com/discovery.html

Do pheromones work in human sexual attraction?

They may be odorless and colorless and their function may be
mysterious, but human pheromones at last have the zest of
scientific truth. Researchers at the University of Chicago
have demonstrated that compounds swabbed from the
'underarms' of young women at different times of the month
can alter the length of other women's menstrual cycles,
compressing or expanding the cycles in predictable
fashion....

http://www.ishipress.com/humanodo.htm

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9803/11/pheromones/index.html

What is the force that lights the fuse between two
complete strangers? What current pulses through their veins,
engorges their hearts, occupies their minds and numbs their
texting fingers? Ah, if only

I knew. As magic formulas go, sexual chemistry must surely
be the most valuable. It's intoxicating effects are more
pleasurable and more powerful than any drug and when it hits,
it hits hard. There are the rushes of ecstacy, the gut wrenching
anticipation, fluttering, dizziness, and the diminished
concentration that turns day-dreaming into a full-time job.
And then there are the side effects. A positively Colombian
annihilation of appetite and its confidence- boosting by-product,
weight loss. And it is free. And it is legal. It is bloody amazing.

But no one knows what "it" is. Scientists have managed to
map our genetic blueprint. They understand the subtleties
of hormones and the complexities of the emotional brain.
But the thing that makes two people click remains a mystery.
Theories abound as to what, or why. Those looking for a
magic bullet (or Cupid's arrow) tend to favour the notion
of pheromones - scents secreted by the sweat glands in the
'armpits' and pubic hair. And the relatively recent discovery
of the vomeronasal organ, a small chemo-sensory structure in
the human nose, lends the concept some weight.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20030629/ai_n12741733

Science of Love - Cupid's Chemistry:

There are, in fact, three distinct stages of love; each with
their own characteristic emotional profile and scientific explanation.

First is lust. Lust is driven by our sex hormones testosterone
and oestrogen. These hormones are what get us 'out on the pull'.
After lust comes attraction. This is the love-struck phase;
the time when we lose our appetite, can't sleep, and can't
concentrate. This is what we know as falling in love.

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/articles/article/clairemcloughlincolumn1.htm/

Answer 3

Love is not selfish as the word "selfish" implies that the other partner is harmed and you have gained something. Love is mutual and it is like a free trades agreement, which goes both ways and benefits both partners. So love is not "selfish", love is "beneficial".

Answer 4

Love is a characteristic not an emotion. You learn to love. Emotions are innate.

Love can not be selfish.

Answer 5

This is basic Darwinism.

The primary force driving the evolution and persistence of any trait, is the survival (aka self interest) of the individual.

Everything is selfish, even Altruism since it is in one's self interest to live in an Altruistic society.

Answer 6

Love is the emotional response to one's most intimately held metaphysical values. As such, yes they are selfish, i.e., "of the self." They are certainly not of someone else's "self."
As contrasted with "selflessness" or "unselfishness", one cannot give in honesty a love he does not value, so such love as coming from the unselfish is not worth the effort they go to to demonstrate love.

Answer 7

In the ultimate analysis, pure love is foolish because it is powerful enough to generate actions harming own interests for the sake of perceived benefit to the beloved...... the selflessness induced by love achieves no significant purpose.

Answer 8

The way I see it, love by definition is selfless. Love expresses care and concern for other people.

I think the best passage on love is often quoted at wedding ceremonies: 1 Corinthians 13 - Love is patient, love is kind,...

Take a minute and look it up. I think it might inspire you!

Answer 9

Yes. Many of us who live in the Western world practice a "treat others the way you want to be treated." Which means loving another is how one wants to be treated.

Answer 10

I believe that any action we preform is inevitably selfish, aside from giving up your life, for the sake of another.