12 Choosing Love
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Brian D. Earp
Abstract
This final chapter has two main goals: to address lingering worries about the medicalization of love—that is, bringing love and relationships into the domain of medicine in a way that threatens to undermine their value—and to put forward a positive vision of love as something we can partially choose, or improve, through science and technology. Will knowing how love works, and even shaping it through hormones and chemistry, rob it of its importance in our lives? Or will it empower us to make our most intimate relationships more reliably consistent with real human flourishing?
Abstract
This final chapter has two main goals: to address lingering worries about the medicalization of love—that is, bringing love and relationships into the domain of medicine in a way that threatens to undermine their value—and to put forward a positive vision of love as something we can partially choose, or improve, through science and technology. Will knowing how love works, and even shaping it through hormones and chemistry, rob it of its importance in our lives? Or will it empower us to make our most intimate relationships more reliably consistent with real human flourishing?
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Epigraph vii
- Contents ix
- 1 Revolution 1
- 2 Love's Dimensions 16
- 3 Human Natures 36
- 4 Little Heart-Shaped Pills 52
- 5 Good-Enough Marriages 71
- 6 Ecstasy as Therapy 82
- 7 Evolved Fragility 101
- 8 Wonder Hormone 110
- 9 Anti-love Drugs 121
- 10 Chemical Breakups 136
- 11 Avoiding Disaster 141
- 12 Choosing Love 171
- Epilogue 189
- Acknowledgements 191
- Notes 195
- Index 255
- About the Authors 267
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Epigraph vii
- Contents ix
- 1 Revolution 1
- 2 Love's Dimensions 16
- 3 Human Natures 36
- 4 Little Heart-Shaped Pills 52
- 5 Good-Enough Marriages 71
- 6 Ecstasy as Therapy 82
- 7 Evolved Fragility 101
- 8 Wonder Hormone 110
- 9 Anti-love Drugs 121
- 10 Chemical Breakups 136
- 11 Avoiding Disaster 141
- 12 Choosing Love 171
- Epilogue 189
- Acknowledgements 191
- Notes 195
- Index 255
- About the Authors 267
