Abstract

This is an essay on the relationship of love and culture. Our main conclusion is that we urgently need a culture of love based on love of culture. Indeed, culture and love merge solidly to give an incomparable sense of life to every human person and to every society. On the one hand, this conclusion is a fact: the more people develop a culture centred on love, the happier they are. On the other hand, it is also a task, a duty: we all still have to fully engage ourselves to build a culture of love, based on love of culture. We shall expound more the first idea, the concept of “culture”. Our aim in this brief paper is to properly approach the issue of the maturity of culture through love. Our main goal here is to understand the depth and breadth of “culture”. Given a sound understanding of culture, we can easily examine the central place of love in culture. Future research will enlarge on these reflections. We all still have to learn so much from the Platonic έρως, the Christian αγάπη or “charitas” and from many other wise traditions about love. Without love every culture is empty of real humanity. We are much more than mere instinct or utilitarian reason.