Love as a moral emotion

Abstract

My aim in this article is to juxtapose love and Kantian respect in a way that is illuminating for both. On the one hand, I hope to show that we can resolve some problems in our understanding of love by applying to it the theory of value and valuation that Kant developed for respect. On the other hand, I hope that this application of Kant’s theory will show that its stern and forbidding tone is just that–a tone in which Kant expressed the theory rather than an essential element of the theory itself, which is in fact well suited to matter of the heart.