Changes

== Overview ==

== Overview ==

Romantic love is contrasted with [[platonic love]]. All usages of platonic love precludes sexual relations, yet only in the modern usage does it take on a fully [[asexual]] sense, rather than the classical sense in which sexual drives are sublimated. Sublimation often tends to be forgotten in casual thought about love; it can be found in [[psychology]]. Unrequited love can be romantic, if only in a comic or tragic sense, or in the sense that sublimation itself is comparable to romance, where the [[spirituality]] of both art and egalitarian [[ideal]]s is combined with strong character and emotions. This situation is typical of the period of [[Romanticism]], but that term is distinct from any romance that might arise within it. [[Beethoven]], however, is the case in point. He had brief relationships with only a few women, always of the nobility. His one actual engagement was broken off mainly because of his conflicts with noble society as a group. This is evidenced in his biography, such as in Maynard Solomon's account. Romantic love might be requited emotionally and physically while not being consummated, to which one or both parties might agree.

Romantic love is contrasted with [[platonic love]]. All usages of platonic love precludes sexual relations, yet only in the modern usage does it take on a fully [[sexuality|asexual]] sense, rather than the classical sense in which sexual drives are sublimated. Sublimation often tends to be forgotten in casual thought about love; it can be found in [[psychology]]. Unrequited love can be romantic, if only in a comic or tragic sense, or in the sense that sublimation itself is comparable to romance, where the [[spirituality]] of both art and egalitarian [[ideal]]s is combined with strong character and emotions. This situation is typical of the period of [[Romanticism]], but that term is distinct from any romance that might arise within it. [[Beethoven]], however, is the case in point. He had brief relationships with only a few women, always of the nobility. His one actual engagement was broken off mainly because of his conflicts with noble society as a group. This is evidenced in his biography, such as in Maynard Solomon's account. Romantic love might be requited emotionally and physically while not being consummated, to which one or both parties might agree.

In romantic love, according to the more modern definitions of the term, lovers often transcend worldly qualities, not only seeking deeper love, but perhaps also raising questions about a more ultimate [[meaning]] (not an uncommon sort of question in any case). This criticism of love is far from new in [[philosophy]], but owes a great debt to [[Schopenhauer]] and [[Kierkegaard]].  Schopenhauer wrote at length about the conflict between reproductive instincts and personal fulfillment, and preceded [[Freud]] in this regard.

In romantic love, according to the more modern definitions of the term, lovers often transcend worldly qualities, not only seeking deeper love, but perhaps also raising questions about a more ultimate [[meaning]] (not an uncommon sort of question in any case). This criticism of love is far from new in [[philosophy]], but owes a great debt to [[Schopenhauer]] and [[Kierkegaard]].  Schopenhauer wrote at length about the conflict between reproductive instincts and personal fulfillment, and preceded [[Freud]] in this regard.