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Every human may experience it in their lifetime. Many chase it, many run away from it. Some become delusional because of it. But what is it really? It's love; it truly is, and will always be the most mysterious yet wonderful phenomena that exists in our world. My name is Cole Kiefer, and in no means do I know anything about love. Frankly, I don't think anyone knows anything about love. But today, I will share with you the conceptions and ideals that circulate around the concept of love. And how could we ever start without posing the question: What is Love?

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One of the most considerable problems of love lies within it's definition. How do we define love? What does it mean to be passionately or tenderly loved by someone or something? It's a concept that can be interpreted in an infinite number of ways. But, one of the meanings that I found most fitting lies with Plato and his work titled, Symposium, which I will discuss further in the presentation. In essence, Plato defines love as the warmth and enjoyment of another in order to make ourselves feel warm and, above all else, complete. Love is not exclusive to just romantic partners. We can feel love in various ways. We can feel love for our parents, our siblings, our pets, and in rare cases, inanimate objects. However, love extends beyond this. If we were to tip our chins up once and a while, we could see that love truly is all around us. But how would we categorize them? The three main sections/concepts that western philosophers have settled for are known as Eros, Philia, and Agape. These are the bases with which we can identify and categorize love.

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Eros - Simply the Greek word for Love, Eros was also a God within Greek Mythology. When discussing the Eros conception, we can loosely define it as the romantic and lustful attraction you feel towards others around you. This may stem from our biological purpose which is to procreate and reproduce. In any case, this is the passion and sexual love you feel for those around you.
Philia - When defining Philia, western philosophers have commonly classified it as a love of friendship. This is the general love you have for your friends or even your family. It goes beyond lustful attraction and instead involves the non-sexual love we have for our friends and family.
Agape - This form of love stems mostly from Theological texts involving Christian ideals. Concepts such as the common theme of, "Love thy neighbor". It's basic meaning is the love for all those around you; a collective love for everyone. It is unconditional and affects even those who might show you anger and hatred.

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In his early works, popular western philosopher Plato wrote on the concept of love as a whole. One of the most distinct works was in his Symposium, a philosophical dialogue that aims to define certain aspects of love. One of my favorite tales from the book is the tale of Aristophanes, a comic who decides to entertain his guests with a story of the Gods. In the story, humans naturally possessed four eyes, four legs, and two faces. On a weary day, they angered the Gods, so Zeus came down and sliced them all into two pieces. From then on, all of the people desired to find their other half; the person who would complete them again. In my opinion, this tale and some of Plato's other works have laid the groundwork for the philosophy of love. Some of Plato's ideals about love are still common today, especially the concept that all people are trying to find their other half. I believe Plato's Symposium, and some of his other writings were most effective in providing the base for future thinkers and future interpretations of love.

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Love is such a broad term and, in my opinion, is one of the most confusing things on the planet. I think the possible reason for this is that everyone interprets love differently. A select number of people solely want a lustful, romantic partner. Some others want a best friend and a partner. As I see it, the idea of Eros, Philia, and Agape is correct, but these are simply categories and there is no clear explanation as to why we truly want love. As I previously said, you could attribute it to biology. Or, maybe we seek love to feel less lonely. Take a step back, and maybe Plato was correct and we are simply trying to find our other half. Regardless, I think it's a complex combination of all. It's a phenomenon that has given me happiness and sadness all in 19 years of my life. I believe humans don't seek companionship solely for reproduction. I think our intelligence as human beings is why we aren't simply reproducing. We have the ability to understand WHY we reproduce, and it's this reason that I believe love is much more than a biological concept. It's our superior intelligence that allows us to intimately connect and bond with other humans in ways that most other animals couldn't. Some animals are monogamous and mate for life, but as humans we are able to recognize these things and so we are able to pay close attention with who we are monogamous with. We get to partner with this person, and their presence is what gives us happiness. After all, all humans crave happiness. (or at least, they should). This is exactly where I believe true love resides. In the end, Human beings will always be confusing creatures. And love is merely a concept that will always leave a mysterious fog in the mind of even the most intelligent individuals. It is a concept that I believe should be thought of objectively. You can never understand love until you find it.

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Cleary, Skye. “Why Do We Love? A Philosophical Inquiry - Skye C. Cleary.” TED, TED-Ed, 11 Feb. 2016, ed.ted.com/lessons/why-do-we-love-a-philosophical-inquiry-skye-c-cleary#review.

Moseley, Alexander. “The Philosophy of Love.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2008, iep.utm.edu/love/.

“Philosophy of Love Lecture by Dr. Fiala.” Performance by Dr. Andrew Fiala, YouTube, California State University, Fresno, 6 Feb. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAgJWzjwfw8&amp;ab_channel=FresnoStateContinuing%26GlobalEducation.

“The Philosophy of Love: Antoon Vandevelde at TEDxLeuven.” Performance by Antoon Vandevelde, YouTube, TEDx, 6 June 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXIeUjCyGsQ&amp;ab_channel=TEDxTalks.

Plato The Symposium