Alain de Botton: On Love

The Zurich-born now London-based philosopher Alain de Botton arrived on stage for his talk on love to a full audience. Drawing on the notion of traditional and modern ideas of romance, he spoke of how the practical side of life often seems to have no place in romantic life. In modern society we often think "True love is supposed to be wordless," and as romantics we believe our partners should always be able to sense what we think and how we feel. We often expect them to be mind readers.

Botton also addressed the Ancient Greeks' philosophy on love, and how their civilisation saw love as a chance for mutual education. The partnership was often seen as a teacher and pupil-type relationship, with constantly rotating roles, and as proof of love in action. If we were to interpret this into modern relationships, it would be the equivalent of saying to our partners "Are you trying to give me a lecture?" whereby Plato would have responded "Yes, and I hope you give me one tomorrow." He informed us that their idea of love is not just something we feel, but it is also a skill, and one that ultimately needs to be learned.