The Nature of Love

[Steve]

As I continue my journey through RD’s “The God Delusion”, I paused last night to do a little thinking.  The man has quite a talent for breaking things down to natural selection and genetics, at least where biology is concerned.  So I got to thinking last night about the genetic purpose of “love”.

I am going to state my assumption here at the outset that an organism has essentially 4 major functions:

1.)   Eat
2.)   Sleep
3.)   Defecate
4.)   Procreate

I am going to assume that an organism, evolved and naturally selected is an expert on survival and at carrying out the above functions.  I would argue that all of our actions in life can be broken down into striving to do the above.

From my standpoint it appears that 1-3 deal with shelter and food.  To protect my life functions long enough to pass on my genes I need to eat, and have a safe place to sleep and defecate so I cannot be tracked by predators. 

If I survive long enough to pass on my genetic material, I have succeeded as an organism and hopefully my genes will survive on into the next generation.  The question here is where does the often touted concept of “love” come into play? Let’s break down love into 2 categories the platonic and erotic.

So what is the purpose of platonic love (love between friends, family, etc.)?  If we break this down to a genetic basis it is easy.  If I am a greedy little infant, I am completely reliant on my family for survival.  I need the protection of my family in order to provide me with a secure area for functions 1-3.  If I didn’t have this, I would not survive long enough to pass on my genes.  So I am genetically programmed to “love” my family, in so much as they provide me with 1-3 so I can execute 4 and pass along my genes.  My family “loves” me in that they are genetically programmed to protect their genetic investment as it were, so I can pass along their genetic information to further generations.  What about friends?  My answer to this is strength in numbers.  At the dawn of humanity we were pray to larger beasts and to the elements.  There is strength in numbers, so I am genetically programmed to be gregarious in order to be protected long enough to succeed genetically.

Romantic love is easy to explain.  I need to pass on my genetic information and being a multicellular organism I need to reproduce sexually.  Once I have used my genetics to attract a mate and passed on my genetic information I must also now protect my genetic investment by caring for my mate and offspring.  I wonder why we don’t see any poetry about this beautiful simplicity?  My theory does have a hole however, I don’t think it applies to non-heterosexual relationships.

Another hiccup is the keeping of pets (although non human animals like Gorillas keep pets! Wikipedia  Koko the gorilla).  The only thing I can think of to explain this is a built in genetic reliance on animals like dogs and cats received from our ancestors.  Dogs offered protection and aided in the hunt, cats kept our grain safe from vermin.

So is “love” really just another genetic mechanism to ensure 23 of my chromosomes move forward into the future?  I would love to hear some other theories on this phenomenon!

I am not a psychologist so I really can only approach love from a genetic standpoint rather than a psychological one.

[Rachel]

I agree with that, basically.  However, our needs for love have changed as we've grown and evolved.  As the world becomes more commercialized, needs 1-3 are taken for granted (in most areas).  Since we are capable of reasoning and greed and all of the thought processes that supposedly seperate us from other animals, we develop and manipulate our "needs - with food, we eat all kinds of things we don't NEED to, in massive quantities because of its abundance.... if we have the resources, we live in spaces that are much larger than we require... it's only natural that our FEELINGS would become unnecessarily complex.  I think that our need for love and companionship is rooted instinctively, but over time has gone beyond that.  We no longer find partners with the goal of reproducing.... many couples choose not to have children, lots of people prefer the company of the same sex... so while the initial longing for love and whatnot starts off instinctively, it develops as we grow - individually and as a society.

[january]

Well, I think we have a social nature that craves partnership and companionship. I think it goes a lot farther than procreation, since we could do that very impersonally if we chose. Many species mate, and then move the hell on. I don't know, call me a romantic, but love is one thing I am not so cynical as to reduce to biological imperative. I think from love we are able to express ourselves, depend on people, grow and learn...mutual respect, devotion to one another...It always seems like love of any kind stands out as a major redeeming quality for our species. I think it also helps develop compassion, through realization of our interdependence...which leads to a moral imperative. Plus poetry, art, and all that good stuff. Forgive the lazy arguing...I have been expressing my love of merlot this evening.