What is love? Thousands of years on and we're still asking the same question

A disadvantage philosophers face when they take taxi rides or go to drinks parties is that answering the question ‘What do you do?’ generally brings the conversation screeching to a halt. One way to get things moving again is to mention a buzz word like ‘neuroscience’ or ‘psychotherapy’ or, of course, ‘love’. Not surprising, perhaps, given that love is the third most searched-for ‘what is’ question on Google’s list for 2014.

So what do philosophers talk about when they talk about love? One long-standing question which needs to be cleared up early on – much as the kitchen needs to be cleared up before you start cooking lunch – is whether love is one or many. For if it’s many - if ‘love’ stands for lots of different things, not just one - then asking what it is won’t get us very far.