A Phenomenology of Love and Hate (Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Philosophy)

Using phenomenology to uncover the implicit logic in personal love, sexual love, and hatred, Peter Hadreas provides new insights into the uniqueness of the beloved and offers fresh explanations for some of the worst outbreaks of violence and hatred in modern times. Topics discussed include the value and subjectivity of personal love, nudity and the temporality of sexual love, the connection between personal, sexual love, and the incest taboo, the development of group-focused hatred from individual focused hatred, and prejudicial discrimination. The work encompasses analysis of philosophers and writers from ancient times through to the present day and examines such episodes as the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing and the Columbine High School massacre Content: Introduction: Why a phenomenology of love and hate? The logical underpinnings of love and hate New resources made available by recent Husserlian scholarship Phenomenology is suited to handling cross-disciplinary topics such as love and hate An explanation of the book's plan -- 1. Personal love. Husserl on 'pre-objective' strivings The notion of 'contact' and its relation to personal love The notion of 'understanding-following-after-another' and the development of personal love Personal love and the 'truth' of the beloved Personal love as 'hyper-subjective' Personal love as a source of value -- 2. Sexual love. Sexual desire, unlike personal love, objectifies, in so doing, it modulates the ordinary part/whole structure of perceptual objects Sexual parts and pieces as objects organized by touch Nudity and the temporality of sexual love Husserl on wholes and parts An explication of a notorious depth psychological doctrine The contrast between personal and sexual love An extreme conflict between personal and sexual love: the incest taboo Summary -- 3. Hatred. Hatred in general is a 'passion' Marginal types of hatred Individual-focused hatred -- a classic illustration The development of group-focused hatred from individual-focused hatred An intimation of the strange logic of group-focused hatred Husserl on the opposition between 'homeworlds' and 'alienworlds' and the emergence of the logical exclusive 'either-or' in group hatred The logic of generalization in monolithic group-focused hatred The generalization in violent group-focused hatred is 'pseudo-eidetic' A further indication of the two logical underpinnings of hatred: removal from the ladder of abstraction A paradigm case of the logical underpinnings of group-hatred: the 1995 Oklahoma Federal Building bombing and The Turner Diaries Monolithic group-hatred, sadly, does not imply psychopathology Violent hatred's shadow: prejudicial discrimination Two benign forms of group hatred: civil hatred and 'Philosophic misanthropy' -- 4. Conclusion: The logical underpinnings of love and hate. The logical complement of personal love, its perfections and perils The logic of wholes and parts and the 'scandal' of sexual love The confinement of hatred into the logic of an exclusive 'either/or' The 'either/or' logic of hatred suggests a threefold Approach to its abatement. Peter Hadreas. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [127]-136) And Index.