{"id":16603,"date":"2008-02-14T12:06:12","date_gmt":"2008-02-14T16:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/?p=16603"},"modified":"2026-04-05T12:14:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:14:34","slug":"041-love-its-history-and-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/archives\/16603","title":{"rendered":"041 &#8211; Love: Its history and philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/041_Valentine_168x100.jpg\" alt=\"Valentine\" width=\"168\" height=\"100\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-16606\" \/><audio preload=\"none\" controls=\"controls\"><source src=\"https:\/\/www.justrightmedia.org\/BROADCASTS-2008\/20080214-justRIGHT-041-LOVE-hate-LIGHTbulbs.mp3\" type=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/>Your browser does not support the audio element<\/audio><br \/>\nOur philosophical journey through love reveals its ancient power as both cosmic unifier and destroyer of reason. From Hesiod\u2019s primordial eros that unnerves gods and men to Plato\u2019s heavenly and earthly forms, where the lover\u2014not the beloved\u2014gains virtue through pursuit of ideal beauty, love emerges as a force that shapes religions, institutions, and governments. Aristotle grounds it ethically and psychologically while linking it to the unmoved mover that later influences Christian concepts of divinity. Judaism and Christianity shift love from irrational passion to a voluntary attitude that can coexist with reason, yet the tension persists: emotion versus rational control.<\/p>\n<p>These insights sharpen our view of today\u2019s battles. Human Rights Commissions weaponize \u201chate\u201d to silence debate, as seen in complaints against Maclean\u2019s for publishing Mark Steyn, demanding forced publication rather than open rebuttal. City Hall pushes symbolic gestures like Earth Hour, low-flush toilets, and sustainable-energy surveys that treat conservation as virtue while ignoring the need for production, property rights, and expanded energy to meet rising demand. Sentencing inconsistencies expose a justice system more concerned with deterrence messages than individual fairness.<\/p>\n<p>A listener\u2019s thoughtful email on religion and virtue prompts reflection: morality springs from rational codes of behavior, not mere belief or professed faith, echoing Richard Dawkins\u2019 point that religion deserves no special immunity from criticism. Comedy clips and external voices underscore the absurdities without becoming endorsements.<\/p>\n<p>Reason prevails when passions earn their place and facts trump fear. That balance is Just Right.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"custom-button\" href=\"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/041-Transcript\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Transcript<\/a> <a class=\"custom-button\" href=\"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/support\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donate<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your browser does not support the audio element Our philosophical journey through love reveals its ancient power as both cosmic unifier and destroyer of reason. From Hesiod\u2019s primordial eros that unnerves gods and men to Plato\u2019s heavenly and earthly forms, where the lover\u2014not the beloved\u2014gains virtue through pursuit of ideal beauty, love emerges as a <a href='https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/archives\/16603' class='excerpt-more'>[Continue Reading]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,62,323,28,205,6,2724,146,598],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-culture-society","category-environmentalism","category-latest","category-law","category-politics","category-relationships","category-religion","category-society","issues-criminal-sentencing","issues-environmentalism","issues-human-rights-tribunals","issues-love","issues-religion-2","personalities-aristotle","personalities-mark-steyn","personalities-plato","category-12-id","category-62-id","category-323-id","category-28-id","category-205-id","category-6-id","category-2724-id","category-146-id","category-598-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16603"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16608,"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16603\/revisions\/16608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justrightmedia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}