Philia: Fellowship and Union
Philia: Fellowship and Union
This chapter discusses Freud’s definition of love as illustrated in his discussion of a similarity between a church and an army. According to Freud, both groups are nonbiologically melded together by the illusion of a loving leader who loves each and every one of them equally. This belief in an “equal love,” he states, is erroneous because it cannot be verified and is mainly based on wish-fulfillment. However, without this belief, both groups would break down or cease to exist. Freud has discovered two kinds of libidinal ties in each group: one toward the leader and the other toward fellow members. Christians, for example, love Christ as the embodiment of love itself, and share among themselves a sense of oneness that binds them into a unity.
Keywords: Freud, love, church, army, equal love, libidinal ties, Christ, Christians
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