The Routledge Handbook of Love in Philosophy

The Routledge Handbook of Love in Philosophy collects 39 original chapters from prominent philosophers on the nature, meaning, value, and predicaments of love, presented in a unique framework that highlights the rich variety of methods and traditions used to engage with these subjects. This volume is structured around important realms of human life and activity, each of which receives its own section:

I. Family and Friendship

II. Romance and Sex

III. Politics and Society

IV. Animals, Nature, and the Environment

V. Art, Faith, and Meaning

VI. Rationality and Morality

VII. Traditions: Historical and Contemporary.

This last section includes chapters treating love as a subject in both Western and non-Western philosophical traditions. The contributions, all appearing in print here for the first time, are written to be accessible and compelling to non-philosophers and philosophers alike; and the volume as a whole encourages professional philosophers, teachers, students, and lay readers to rethink standard constructions of philosophical canons.