by Donald DeMarco

About the author: Donald DeMarco is an author and lecturer.

Love, which characterizes the essence of God and, as Dante states, moves the sun and the stars, is probably the world's most dangerous euphemism. What is labelled as love can very easily turn out to be something far less noble: lust, self-indulgence, infatuation, or even a political strategy. Some of the strangest things that take place are done in the name of love.

What Is Love"

How do we know, then, that what we call "love" really is love? This is one of the fundamental questions that has challenged the minds of the great philosophers. Aristotle argued that love must promote the good of the beloved. Augustine taught that it must be consistent with the love of God. Aquinas spoke of it terminating in a...