Jacques Derrida Talks about Love

I have talked about Bollywood and cliches in some of my previous posts, yet I have not talked much about love. Valentines' Day is right around the corner and love is in the air! 

I recently came across a video where a man talks about his ideologies about love. I agree with some part and disagree with others. Yet, I though I would share my opinions about his video and perspective on this topic

Here is the video if you would like to watch it:

Love is an inanimate and abstract concept and has been a topic of interest and conflict for philosophers around the world for centuries. The reasons for such discrepancies and difficulties are quite obvious. There is neither any one way to describe love nor is there any one aspect to address. Love is a very vast idea that involves depth, analysis and perspective.

Throughout the video, Derrida finds it difficult to talk about love in an indiscriminate manner. He believes that he is not “capable of talking in generalities about love.” He is probably unable to speak on love as a whole because he feels that love involves several facets and that it cannot be elaborated in one particular fashion.  He feels the need for a more specific and precise approach towards the topic. When Amy asks him if he could express his views on why philosophers have always found love to be a topic of conflict, he is quite out of words. He feels that he either has nothing to say or that if he has anything to say at all, it would simply be a repetition of usual platitudes. He has nothing new to add to the topic.

Despite his thorough predispositions towards the concept of love, Derrida is of the strong opinion that when we speak about love and the love that people have, there are two perspectives—whether the person is focusing on the “singularity” of his affections or is the person focusing on the specific qualities that he has found in those affections. He believes that it is important to make a distinction between whether a person loves another object or person solely because of their Being or whether the person shares affections due to certain qualities that the object or person hold. His words reflect that he thinks people’s love, when attached to specific qualities, may fade over time and that people should focus their affections towards the being of people or objects rather than superficial  traits. He recognises that love often begins from appreciating these traits but somewhere along the path, this love must be rooted into steadier concepts of recognising the very Being of the person or object. He then goes on to describe the importance of Being and the thin line between “who” and “what”.

Overall, Derrida finds it extremely challenging to focus on the concept of love. The difficulty in expressing his views probably lies in his firm belief that love is a topic that needs to be dealt with in a careful, not casual manner. I believe that to some extent, his opinions are quite correct, because love has a different appeal to different people and different situations. There is not much to say about love as an idea, yet when it comes to a particular attribute of love, words may fall less. Love cannot be integrated into a chat over a cup of tea or a short discussion at an interview. It needs comprehensive exploration of the varied meanings it holds for dissimilar personalities. Approaching the topic of love in a more defined fashion can open greater avenues of conversation and discussion as against speaking about it in a vague and ambiguous manner.

What do you think about the concept of love? Let me know in the comments below!

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Until then... signing off!

S...