Uploaded May 2013 | Updated September 2026, 40 minutes ago
We are told so many different stories about the nature of love it is hard to make sense of them all. Is love found in brain chemistry? In various social conventions? In the individual, romantic heart? These stories all seem plausible, but also seem to conflict with each other. If love is in the brain, then anyone with a working brain should experience love regardless of their societies conventions. And if love is a social construction then no amount of neuroscience will ever be able to locate it. But then again, if love is really a matter of the individual's personal relationship to their beloved, then we should look to the poets, not to neuroscientists or sociologists to truly understand love. Is it possible to reconcile these competing views of love? If we are to 'find love', we'd better know where to look.
A talk I gave at the Nammour Symposium at Sacramento State. If you want to see more videos from the Symposium, you can find them here: http://www.csus.edu/cppe/symposium/nammour_2013_Love.html
I'm sorry I've been AWOL from YouTube everyone. I've been devoured by the monster known as the Tenure Process. I'm hoping to get back to making videos this summer.
We are told so many different stories about the nature of love it is hard to make sense of them all. Is love found in brain chemistry? In various social conventions? In the individual, romantic heart? These stories all seem plausible, but also seem to conflict with each other. If love is in the brain, then anyone with a working brain should experience love regardless of their societies conventions. And if love is a social construction then no amount of neuroscience will ever be able to locate it. But then again, if love is really a matter of the individual's personal relationship to their beloved, then we should look to the poets, not to neuroscientists or sociologists to truly understand love. Is it possible to reconcile these competing views of love? If we are to 'find love', we'd better know where to look.
A talk I gave at the Nammour Symposium at Sacramento State. If you want to see more videos from the Symposium, you can find them here: http://www.csus.edu/cppe/symposium/nammour_2013_Love.html
I'm sorry I've been AWOL from YouTube everyone. I've been devoured by the monster known as the Tenure Process. I'm hoping to get back to making videos this summer.
