Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan

Love And Being: The Need For Love To Be Analogous And Active

A PAPER SUBMITTED TO
THE FACULTY OF THE PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS IN
PHILO 10 B

PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT

Submitted by:
Santos, Jose III D.

November, 2022
 Introduction
In the discussion and investigation of Norris Clarke on Thomistic Metaphysics of a
self-communicating and self-expressing activity requisite for a Being/being to be possible but
it seems that it doesn't tackle in much detail the idea and concept of Love. On reflection on
the elusive Love there are certain thresholds and parameters when the Love is known, and
when it is no longer, this is an area for discussion. The paper will look generally on love as an
umbrella term of the Greek definitions of Agápe (unconditional love), Éros (passionate
and/or erotic love), Philia (friendship), and Storge (familial love), and of the general term of
passion/desire.1 Following this there exists a lack of an adequate definition of Love hence a
working perspective to view Love is to see itself as the synthesis of a real and mental being
wherein it acts as a force that expresses itself but is not bound to one mode of existence but in
both real and mental. Thus in all instances of love, in its basket form, we can determine that
love is the affirmation of the self through the other as made possible by its realness, as its
status as a real being, and its mental state, from which its various forms are given
manifestation through the present paradigm of understanding. In this I argue that love
exhibits the exact same characteristics of a type of unity of mental and real being.

Body
The conception and phenomena of Love has a deep and real presence within the
reality of human condition, although varying in both definition and understanding, there
exists a central item that transcends but contains the attributes that makes it Love. In the
discussion of Love it is important to first discuss the basic ideas concerning love within the
ordinary language. It is often that Love is described as passion, affection, and affirmation, but
it is in this “affirmation” which we want to focus on in building a working definition of what
Love is. Now, Norris Clarke discusses Thomistic metaphysics in an attempt in defining and
discussing Being/being reached a refined definition/understanding by stating that Being/being
as a self-communicative and self-expressing activity that makes itself persist in a universe of
beings, and in this it is a logical step to take the step in adhering to this understanding and
placing it onto the first rendition on the definition of Love as “Love is self-expressing and
self-communicative activity.”2 In this progression of our discussion, we can now view Love
as such expressing activity, but we must view Love in the perspective as an activity within

1
Niko Kolodny, "Love as Valuing a Relationship," The Philosophical Review 112, no. 2 (2003): 136,
doi:10.1215/00318108-112-2-135.
2
William N. Clarke, The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics (2001), 60.
the being in relation to other beings; in such a way that a more intimate, yet complete,
definition is needed to view Love in such a way. The idea and experience of Love must first
be understood intimately within the human condition and then in a Thomistic metaphysical
sense.
Love like every real being, compared to every other, at once shares the same act of
existence, but is not that being, thus produces love in its various forms. In the intimate sense
of it Love can be understood as the affirmation of the self or of others from which extends a
profound effect on the self or the other being, it is not limited to conscious beings, like that of
the Human person, but also to other beings though not as developed as a concept within such
beings.3 In this, we can reach a second progression of our definition of Love: “Love as the
affirmation of being, through another being.” Now, moving forward with this definition we
can reach the understanding that if Love entails within it the prerequisite of affirmation for it
to be love, then how can it be that such concepts of unconditional or one-sided love can
exist? It is in the very second definition that such a thing that comes into conflict occurs
wherein if it is in affirmation of being can only happen in another being then it cannot be
possible for such unconditional love to exist.4 It is only by understanding that Love’s
definition cannot be as constricting as to limit its effects to other beings, it must be
analogous.5
Love is to be understood as something that transcends and rightly the definition must
advance with such a point, but how does one take that love transcends? As previously stated
it is not limited to complex beings like the Human person, but all beings though not as
developed as a concept, so following this we can formulate a new definition: Love as the
affirmation of the self through the other. To expound and defend this new definition we must
first understand that for a being to be intelligible it must be active, that of self-expressing and
self-communicative activity according to Norris Clarke, which means there is a rebounding
of both material and metaphysic realms to make such a Being comprehensible;6 following
this, a being must be able to recognize another being then make a rebound in order to affirm
itself and the other. In the new definition, this is made possible to not limit Love, and also
allows for various manifestations, it is something that occurs when the being is affirmed
through another being.

3
Clarke, short title, 166.
4
Kolodny, "short title," 153.
5
Clarke, short title, 51.
6
Clarke, short title, 30.
 Conclusion
Now that the bases of tangible definition, and understanding of Love is established,
we must now move towards polishing certain points that were left undeveloped, or
unexplained, in order to conclude the discussion: Firstly, Love as a synthesis of real and
mental being pertains to love being an active force within universe of being but only given
tangible understanding through mental constructs, and Secondly, the definition of affirmation
is left analogous in order to not limit the definition but ultimately falls into the existing
paradigm of thinking. To conclude, Love presents itself as the synthesis of both a real and
mental being through which Love in the definition we have provided: “Love as the
affirmation of the self through the other.” In this we can determine that love is the affirmation
of the self through the other as made possible by its activity, that which exhibits the exact
same characteristics of the being of Norris Clarke, but it also endeavors to make itself known
through its definition as analogous and active through affirmation.
Insight
Love is such a personal favorite topic of discussion, be it under the academic or with
alcohol in the blood, this conversation within peers so experienced with love but with no true
understanding of what love is, aside from the feeling of lust and desire in the heat of a
moment or in the supple embrace of a partner, who they themselves only seek comfort rather
than that of deep romantic love. The discussion above is a topic of interest that I personally
have been rambling on whenever alcohol is near, since what no better way of discussing so
intimate when all social barriers are erased with the ultimate equalizer that is alcohol and
problems. The lessons and topics discussed in metaphysics is something I painstakingly
enjoy, even though I struggle and often stumble due to personal negligence. It is in such
subjects where I enjoy listening and reading.
The entire conversation on love is something I quite enjoy and find interesting when
dealing with something so controversial, be it with the materialist who reduce it to chemicals
or with idealists who treat it as something only transcendental, love is just some part of the
human condition that pervades circumstances and presents itself in all facets of human
society throughout history. This phenomena or being that approaches within the eyes of the
infatuated youth or even you right now regardless of age; it captures this raw infatuation that
overcomes the rational part of ourselves to fall towards this person that you didn’t expect to
or did not expect to fall this hard for, but the best part is it does not limit itself to a person but
towards all.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Clarke, William N. The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics.
2001.

Kolodny, Niko. "Love as Valuing a Relationship." The Philosophical Review 112, no.
2 (2003), 135-189. doi:10.1215/00318108-112-2-135.
Turnitin Report