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Scientia et Fides

The will to love that makes a difference
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The will to love that makes a difference

Authors

  • Marciano Escutia Universidad Complutense de Madrid http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2725-0726

Keywords

Benevolent love, Personhood, Human Dignity

Abstract

This essay deals with the question of what really makes human beings exceptional. It is argued that it is a special kind of love that ultimately distinguishes humans from other animals. Although other kinds of considerations, preferably cognitive ones, have most often been invoked to make such a distinction, these might eventually be found to be, at least in part, a matter of degree and not something qualitatively different, as argued here with respect to this type of love. Arguments from both scientific and philosophical sources are brought to bear on the question.

References

Alejandro Bonmati, Asier Gomez-Olivencia, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Jose Miguel Carretero, Ana Gracia, Ignacio Martinez, Carlos Lorenzo, Jose María Bermudez de Castro & Edouald Carbonell. 2010. “Middle Pleistocene lower back and pelvis from an aged human individual from the Sima de los Huesos site, Spain.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved at: http://www.pnas.org/content/107/43/18386.full.pdf.

Chomsky, Noam. 2015. Why only us. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Dawkins, Richard. 1976. The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jarvis Thomson, Judith. 1985. “The Trolley Problem.” The Yale Law Journal 94, 6:1395-1415

Lewis, Clive Staples. 1953. Mere Christianity. Geoffrey Bles.

Lewis, Clive Staples. 1960. The four loves. Geoffrey Bles Publishers.

Nagel, Thomas. 2012. Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pinker, Stephen. 2008. “The Stupidity of Dignity.” The New Republic. Retrieved May 15th 2017 at: https://newrepublic.com/article/64674/the-stupidity-dignity.

Sapolsky, Robert. 2009. “The uniqueness of humans.” Ted Talk. Available (June 2017) at: https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_sapolsky_the_uniqueness_of_humans

Schwartz, J. & Begley, S. 2002. The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the power of mental force. New York: Regan Books.

Sheed, Frank. 1953. Society and sanity. London: Sheed and Ward Ltd.

Singer, Peter. 1985. “Persons and non-persons.” In In Defense of Animals, edited by Peter Singer, 52-62. Basil Blackwell.

Trivers, R.L. 1971. “The evolution of reciprocal altruism.” Quarterly Review of Biology 46:35–57. doi:10.1086/406755.

Wyatt, John. 2009. Matters of Life and Death. Nothingham: IVP Books.

Wyatt, John. 2014. What is a Person? Neuroscience, Human Identity and the Christian Faith. Lecture at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. Available (June 2017) at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRIddOvdH_4&t=12s.

Scientia et Fides

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Published

2017-07-18

How to Cite

1.
ESCUTIA, Marciano. The will to love that makes a difference. Scientia et Fides. Online. 18 July 2017. Vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 79-92. [Accessed 2 July 2025].
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Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2018)

Section

Articles

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ISSN: 2300-7648

eISSN: 2353-5636

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