Existentialism and Romantic Love

by S. Cleary

Overview

This book is an existential study of romantic loving. It draws on five existential philosophers to offer insights into what is wrong with our everyday ideas about romantic loving, why reality often falls short of the ideal, sources of frustrations and disappointments, and possibilities for creating authentically meaningful relationships.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137455796
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	03/18/2015
Edition description:	2015
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Skye C. Cleary teaches philosophy and business at Columbia University, the City College of New York, and Barnard College, USA. She is an advisory board member of Strategy of Mind, the Managing Editor of the American Philosophical Association’s blog, and has written for Aeon, TED-Ed, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Huffington Post, The Conversation, Business Insider, New Republic, The Philosophers’ Magazine, The Philosopher’s Zone on ABC Radio National, YourTango, and others.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. Max Stirner and Loving Egoistically 3. Søren Kierkegaard and Loving Aesthetically 4. Friedrich Nietzsche and Loving Powerfully 5. Jean-Paul Sartre and Loving Sado-Masochistically 6. Simone de Beauvoir and Loving Authentically 7. Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

Cleary’s book is a wonderful introduction to some key philosophical thinkers. Even if readers are searching for minor exposures to existentialism, Cleary ties together a lot of their larger ideas under the umbrella of romance. … The book is a step in unhinging love from its banality and its honest and accessible approach should be an interest philosophers of relationships and love.” (Christopher Sanacore, Blue Labyrinths, August, 2016)

“The books starts with a general introduction and ends with a general conclusion. … contain a lot of stimulating food to thought about love seen as an inextricable part or content of existence and about romantic loving as such. … makes a fructuous effort in extracting the relevant stuff from the five authors to treat loving and romantic loving in the context of anxiety of existence, choice, freedom and authenticity. … This makes the book valuable and worthy of reading.” (Robert Zaborowski, Metapsychology, Vol. 20 (4), January, 2016)

From the Publisher

2015-10-03
An examination of romantic love and relationships through the lens of existential philosophy. For those who have and have not studied the philosophers examined here—Stirner, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, and De Beauvoir—Cleary's analysis plays two roles equally well. It both introduces the central ideas and investigates them for something more specific, namely, what these existentialists thought about romantic love. What romantic advice, for instance, would Nietzsche offer to a contemporary relationship? Cleary smartly breaks down the fundamentals of existentialism into categories that then seem applicable to romantic relationships: creating unions between individuals, looking for meaning, choices, freedom, and authenticity, etc. As she progresses from one philosopher to the next, Cleary covers everything from passion to marriage as an institution to relationships as masochism, finding specific references and drawing from other topics such as the philosophers' personal romances and their musings on other relationships found in literature. Combining these more relatable elements with traditional analysis and her clear prose results in a serious, well-researched piece of scholarship that also provides enjoyable inroads to a new understanding of these dense philosophies. Although some of her conclusions might feel like a stretch, it's still exhilarating to see her arrive at certain proclamations: e.g., "the most fulfilling and satisfying existence can be achieved only through leaping into romantic loving because it is enriching and enables individuals to engage more intensely in the world." Throughout, Cleary writes with the same joyful appreciation for existentialism as the late Dr. Robert Solomon—an expert whom Cleary often cites. For both Solomon and Cleary, the existentialists were far from the gloomy, nihilist figures often presented in pop culture. Instead, they were serious, tremendous thinkers constructing new and progressive ways for others to better grapple with the human condition. As such, Cleary's illuminating work offers a wealth of new considerations readers can strive to apply to their own lives. An excellent academic work that will enlighten readers looking for personal meaning in masterpieces of the existential movement.

Kirkus Reviews