Philosophy of Love
MIT's OpenCourseWare offering examines love through philosophy, literature, film, and poetry, distinguishing eros, philia, and agape and testing whether love is best understood as a feeling, an action, a form of knowing another person, or an exchange of giving and taking. Readings draw on Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Martin Buber, D. H. Lawrence, and Rumi, paired with film and poetry that dramatize the same questions in concrete situations. Discussion works through competing accounts of romantic, familial, and spiritual love, asking students to test philosophical claims against their own experience. Part of MIT's Concourse program, the course includes a syllabus, reading list, and assignments from the original class, free to access under MIT OpenCourseWare's open license, with no certificate offered.