The Ambiguity of Love

Beauvoir, Honneth and Arendt on the Relation Between Recognition, Power and Violence

Bibliographic Data

ID12643239
AuthorsFederica Gregoratto (0000-0003-3174-219X, Philosophy Department, The University of St. Gall, St. Gall, Switzerland, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume19
Issue1
Pages18-34
Publication date2017-10-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Horizons (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1440-9917 • E-ISSN: 1568-5160
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14409917.2017.1376933
OpenAlexW2762627540
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited16

The paper sketches out an account of ambiguous and agonistic love by drawing on the work of Simone de Beauvoir, Axel Honneth and Hannah Arendt. To begin with, I reconstruct the ambiguity of love within the conceptual framework of a paradigm of recognition. I argue further that the social relation of love, understood as an intertwine between dependence and independence, entails a power dynamic. Insofar as the dynamic actualises as “power in concert” or “power with”, namely as mutual empowerment, love unfolds as free love. Finally, I show how agonistic love is damaged by turning into violent domination

Aggression · Agonistic behaviour · Ambiguity · Empowerment · Epistemology · Independence (probability theory · Linguistics · Political science · Power (physics · Psychoanalysis · Relation (database · Sociology · Computer Science · Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Psychology · Simone de Beauvoir and Sartre · Social Psychology