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The time has gone when love was regarded as a mystery or as a visitation from God. We know that it is of libidinous origin and that it has a biological basis in that its basic aim is the sexual physical union of two people. But there is a special psychological aspect, which we also call love. It has been elaborated in famous love stories whose heroes and heroines are widely known and widely imitated in behaviour and speech. In romantic love, the most striking phenomenon is the unconscious overvaluation of the love object. It is this irrational component which justifies our scientific curiosity. To interpret the irrational is a task of our science.
What is the nature of love? What differentiates love, a fleeting infatuation, a sexual adventure, a marriage based on reason or on the admiration of a classic beauty?
This question, what is love, is infrequently posed, in spite of the fact that love is so universal a human experience. The average person accepts the phenomenon of love as uncritically as the phenomenon of sleep, just as he accepts the presence of religious faith, without inquiring into the reasons for its existence.
This paper will deal only with love in males.
Freud's explanation of the phenomena of love is contained chiefly in his Contributions to the Psychology of Love (1910, 1912, 1918) and Mass Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921). Love, moreover, is discussed in the Collected Papers not less than about one-hundred and thirty times!
Among the phenomena of love we find many varieties. The common sensual love disappears temporarily following sexual gratification. The love object, however, may enjoy a persisting cathexis, and consequently is cherished or 'loved' also during desire-free periods. The tender longing is not aimed at sexuality, but merely originates in it. It is 'aim-inhibited'. Since it cannot bring full gratification followed by temporary withdrawal, it becomes the basis for the sustained aspects of a relationship.
According