Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Qui où Quoi ?

The questions of who or what are at the foundation of philosophy. Derrida brings up the question in regards to love. Are we in love with someone or something about someone? This question calls for deconstruction. We call upon ourselves to look into the unconscious and conscious of our relationship. But even then someone is always relative to that something. Therefore, can we completely separate the two in regards to love and say we have the choice of one or the other? With the next section delving into psycho-analytic theory, more answers to this question of love will hopefully arise.
Another aspect that Derrida brings up about love is that it is narcissistic. I normally would have never thought of love in this manner because normally most see that with love comes some form of giving. After seeing the documentary, I can now see why love is narcissistic. Recognizing the needs of others in a relationship is valid, but recognizing ours first is often times more important to us. The other’s duty is to assist in filling the void of the needs of the self. I don’t think many people are naturally pure narcissists when it comes to love but I can see where love and narcissism are intertwined.

4 comments:

A. Crawford said...

I strongly agree with your point that people are not necessarily more narcissistic when it comes to love, but it does play a role in the concept. Love is a complicated issue, and we often question our reasoning for how we define it.

Mae Dupname said...

It's interesting how you brought up the idea of whether or not it's possible to separate the whole person from the qualities they possess. I still am kind of confused about the difference between the two, but I don't know that we can separate them. They are so closely connected that I don't think we can untangle them. Great post!

Bethany T. said...

Great post! As I was reading your thoughts about separating the who from the what I thought of an example that might validate loving the who rather than the what. I considered the idea of arranged marriages that occur in some countries. There have been many stories where the bride (or groom for that matter) despises the spouse chosen for her but after a while, the couple has been together so long that she ends up loving him simply for that reason. I am still confused about this concept but that is one of the best examples I can think of. Any thoughts?

Unknown said...

Is the narcissism that Derrida discussing necessarily mean that one puts their own needs before that of the person that they love? I'm not quite certain if this a condemnation of the concept of love for love's sake or if Derrida meant to simply point out the difference between loving a person (another "I" if you will) or loving objective and subjective ideas about that person. I can see where this can be thought of as narcissistic, however I believe that he means a sort of narcissism that is beyond our common understanding of the word, narcissistic. What exactly he means is something I think we're all trying to flesh out. Great writing.