Alienation and Identity in Romantic Love

The concept of romantic love, influenced as it is by the theme within Romanticism of alienation and identification, suggests an important connection between love and personal identity. Love in this context recognizes both the sense in which one’s beloved is a separate human being and is, at the same time, a constitutive aspect of one’s identity. Alienation and Identity in Romantic Love explores this connection in the context of discussions of both metaphysical views of personal identity and practical or ethical accounts. To this end, Gary Foster discusses the work of influential philosophers in both the analytic and continental traditions as well as the findings of sociologists. He explores the love and personal identity relationship through moral and narrative perspectives and examines certain aspects of the modern love experience such as the phenomenon of online dating. Ultimately, Foster finds in Jean-Paul Sartre’s work a promising approach to understanding this connection through his emphasis on embodied identity.

Gary Foster is associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at Wilfrid Laurier University.