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date: 16 April 2021

Abstract and Keywords

The connection between romantic love and time has always fascinated lovers, who ask themselves if their love will endure always and forever. And if it does, will it be the same as it is now? This chapter argues that romantic love can indeed endure for a long time without necessarily declining into something like friendship or companionate love. In order to show this, it provides various conceptual tools that can help to understand enduring emotions in general and enduring romantic love in particular, such as the distinctions between acute, extended, and enduring emotions, or between superficial and profound emotions. Finally, it tests this position by applying it to the issues of old age, sickness, and death, as exemplified in Michael Haneke’s film Amour.

Keywords: romantic love, time, emotion, enduring, change, old age, care, Amour

Aaron Ben‐Ze'ev

Aaron Ben‐Ze'ev , Professor of Philosophy, is former President of the University of Haifa. He received his B.A. in Philosophy and Economics (1975) and his M.A. in Philosophy (1977) from the University of Haifa, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1981). Professor Ben‐Ze'ev's research focuses on the philosophy of psychology, and especially the study of emotions. Most recently, his research has centred on love. His major books are: In The Name of Love: Romantic Ideology and its Victims (Oxford University Press 2008); Love Online: Emotions on the Internet (Cambridge University Press 2004); The Subtlety of Emotions (MIT Press 2000); and The Perceptual System (Peter Lang 1993).

Angelika Krebs

Angelika Krebs is chair of philosophy at the University of Basel. She was educated in Freiburg, Oxford, Konstanz, and Berkeley. She did her Ph.D. in Frankfurt with Friedrich Kambartel, Bernard Williams, and Jürgen Habermas. Her research focuses on ethics, aesthetics, and the philosophy of emotion. Major books are Ethics of Nature (De Gruyter 1999); Arbeit und Liebe (Suhrkamp 2002); Zwischen Ich und Du (Suhrkamp 2015). She is the editor of Naturethik (Suhrkamp 1997); Gleichheit oder Gerechtigkeit (Suhrkamp 2000); and co-editor of Philosophy of Emotions I-IV (Routledge 2017); and The Meaning of Moods (Philosophia 2017).

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