What is Love: These Great Thinkers Attempt to Explain It

When it comes to love, few of us actually really know what it is. In fact, the question ‘what is love?’ was the most searched thing on Google in 2012 according to the search engine giant itself.

In an attempt to get to the bottom of the question for once and for all, The Guardian approached some of the greatest writers and thinkers in the world and asked them their definition of the word ‘love.’

Here is what they had to say…

The Physicist: Jim Al-Khalili is a theoretical physicist and according to him, love is simply a powerful neurological condition like hunger or thirst, only its more permanent than most of our other biological and neurological urges. Mr Al-Khalili believes that love is simply chemistry. Although, from an evolutionary perspective, it’s a survival mechanism that helps us to develop long-term relationships, mutual defence and parental support of children. It also makes us feel safe and secure.

The Psychotherapist: Philippa Perry is a psychotherapist and, according to her, love has many guises: romantic, platonic, sexual and more. Therefore it is hard to pin it down and it is even harder to experience all the guises that it presents itself to us in. Love is something that is hard to understand, yet easy to grasp once you experience it for the first time.

What does love mean to you?

The Philosopher: Julian Baggini is a philosopher and writer. He believes that love is not one thing and that it differs. For example, we have one kind of love for parents, another for country, another for children and another for romantic partners. He believes that love is simply a passionate, kind commitment that we nurture and develop to different people in our lives.

The Romantic Author: Jojo Moyes is an award-winning author. According to her, love changes depending on where you are in your life in relation to it. When we’re in a happy, secure relationship, love feels familiar and as necessary as air. However, if we are deprived of it, it feels like an obsession or a physical pain.

Here in the Her.ie office we’ve been throwing around a few ideas of what loves mean to us. So far we’ve come up with: an endless supply of hugs from your favourite person, someone who is always there for you and someone who never judges you (even when you do something ridiculously stupid).

What does love mean to you? And also, for the sake of this article, we think this song is super-appropriate...