Love in Western Thought

RESEARCH

Our latest publication on Love

Few are aware that since antiquity, there has always been the philosophy of love at the core of Western culture. It articulates what makes life meaningful and worthwhile, and how we can live a good life together through an ethic of love. This book fills this significant gap, not only reconnecting the reader with such important wisdom, and more crucially, also reorienting our socioeconomic institutions and collective actions towards more loving and caring, and more concerned with the qualities of our lived experiences. By re(dis)covering the gifts of love, we may challenge the existing systemic dehumanisation, and draw from knowledge and understanding already present in our culture. This is timely because the global crises we are facing are catastrophic, especially when it comes to climate change. Therefore we must respond from a place of love rather than fear. Whether it is reducing the use of fossil fuels, lowering greenhouse emission, choosing the right food to eat or advocating for structural transformation, our concerted endeavours start with an appropriate appreciation of the nature of our well-being which includes the planet’s well-ness. This book highlights a clear pathway forward: to ensure collective healing and co-flourishing with nature, we must practise the art of loving.

Reviewers Comments about the book:

“Professor Gill addresses the global crisis of hope by combining the rich wellsprings of historic philosophy with today’s wavefront of systems and complexity science. She gives new life to the immortal concept of love, impoverished by excessive rationalism and enfeebled by romanticism. Her presentation of love as the doing of relationships, of caring and valuing people for themselves, is an inspiring foundation for living well and finding meaning today and tomorrow.” – John, Lord Alderdice, FRCPsych, Senior Research Fellow, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford.

“Lest We Lose Love is a passionately informed and deeply layered work, which succeeds in both excavating and rewilding the landscape of love. Illuminating in its content and meticulously researched, this book reaches the core of what it means to be human and is a profound act of service. Vital as well as vitalizing I’m reminded on every page of William Blake’s words: ‘We are put on earth that we may learn to bear the beam of love.’” – Marina Cantacuzino MBE, Journalist, author, broadcaster and
founder of The Forgiveness Project.

“Drawing on the rich resources of the Western tradition, this important book gives us a powerful framework for thinking about the fundamental connection between love and human flourishing. In a world in which we are ever more powerful and ever less able to use that power for the common good, Scherto invites us to consider the possibility that love may be the only way forward.” – Robert Boisture, President, The Fetzer Institute.

“Fortunately for all of us, Scherto Gill’s careful investigation into love in Western culture brings to the fore a matter that has been hidden away – the matter of love. We must all read it.” – David Cadman, Harmony Professor of Practice, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.