The possibility of love: an inter-disciplinary analysis

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to address the question of love’s possibility as it is explored in a selection of literature from the disciplines of philosophy, psychoanalysis and poetry. The works of nine authors, selected from these disciplines, provide an overview of the question in these particular realms, and also in the three historical dimensions of romanticism, modernism and postmodernism. The works of Nietzsche, Buber and Ricoeur provide the philosophical exploration; psychoanalysis is represented by Freud, Lacan and Žižek; and the poetic contribution focuses on the works of Wordsworth, Eliot and Kennelly. The inter-disciplinary nature of the thesis is based on the assertion of an interconnection between the three disciplines, and that this interconnection enables a unique and insightful exploration of the question of love’s possibility. Thus, the question is explored from diverse view-points, and also from different time-frames; convergences and divergences are noted and discussed, and conclusions are drawn from the ensuing findings. The question has been chosen because, it is argued, it is a fundamental inquiry in any attempted understanding of the human condition, and is thus a foundational link between the disciplines under review. It is a question which provokes investigation and exploration of concepts which are integral to human being and human life, and, it is argued, such investigation and exploration is enhanced by the integrative nature of the research and analysis which is undertaken in the study.