by Zoë Pollock
With the help of Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving, Kathleen O’Dwyer maps the philosophy of love:
Fromm insists that “paradoxically, the ability to be alone is the condition for the ability to love," and that the ability to experience real love is based on a commitment to the freedom and autonomy of both partners: “Mature love” he writes “is union under the condition of preserving one’s integrity, one’s individuality… In love the paradox occurs that two beings become one and yet remain two." Thus the need for connection is answered through a relatedness which allows us to transcend our separateness without denying us our uniqueness.
The Dish 