Examining Frankfurt's Views on Love and Obligations

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Frankfurt justifies his statement that there are no moral obligations specifically ascribed or associated with love by making three considerations about love; the first being “a person who loves has no obligation to continue loving” (pg. 5) and uses this consideration to go on and say that falling out of love does not constitute a breach of any moral imperative, despite whatever pain our leaving may cause to the other half of the relationship. The second consideration is that “love may make no difference whatsoever to the beloved” (pg. 6). In this he is discussing the absence of moral responsibilities in the context of unrequited love. Frankfurt’s third and final consideration in his argument is that “the importance of loving does not derive …show more content…

His first consideration is that we are entirely capable of falling out of love, which is a completely correct statement when you take it at face value, we can do that, it’s a fact. However when Frankfurt states that this justifies his statement of the absence of a moral imperative it becomes quite a bit more complex. On a very basic level something can be considered immoral when it causes another person harm, therefore even when one stops loving another the moral obligation to “let them down gently” is there, this notion that even though you do not love the other person anymore is inconsequential to the fact that you are morally obliged to endeavour to cause as little harm to the other person as possible, and why? At one point you loved them. There is a residual effect that love has on the ending of a relationship that is ignored throughout Frankfurt’s argument which can perhaps best be understood by examining the relationship of a parent and child, in this example the parent and the child have no love for each other, and now the parent is on his deathbed.
Most likely the child will visit the parent he no longer loves, not because he is obliged …show more content…

But Frankfurt makes two assumptions that render this argument as flawed: he limits the scope of his philosophy to people loving people, and he assumes that for a moral obligation to exist in a loving relationship, love must be reciprocal. The error of these assumptions is apparent if you examine the way patriotism works. A patriot will be willing to die to protect his country; they are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice because they love their country. Looking at the other side of this situation and the country does not even know who that patriot is, the sacrifices and moral obligations a patriot makes and fulfils, to defend his country make very little to no difference to the country. this makes a large part of Frankfurt’s second theory redundant however taken at the level that Frankfurt presents it at there is definitely some truth to his opinion that moral obligation is absent from situations of unrequited personal love.
His third consideration is his most legitimate one, where he says that he believes “that it is possible to give a better explanation of the unquestionable truth that loving

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