Although the command to 鈥渓ove your neighbor as yourself鈥� is often considered impractical, Meghan Sullivan, a professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, sought to defend universal love, or the 鈥渓ove imperative,鈥� at a forum last Friday evening.
At the event, titled 鈥淲hy you should love absolutely everyone,鈥� Sullivan presented a philosophical justification for the theological concept of universal love, and Professor of Philosophy Nomy Arpaly rebutted Sullivan鈥檚 assertions. The Veritas Forum, the Program for Ethical Inquiry, the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life and various Christian communities on campus co-sponsored the event.
Sullivan argued that there is a 鈥渕oral and rational obligation to love absolutely anyone 鈥� with dignity, indiscriminately, but in a way that鈥檚 appropriate to how their dignity is manifest.鈥� According to Sullivan, there are four criteria for love: sensitivity to another鈥檚 emotional growth, desire for the other鈥檚 life to go well, connection between the welfare of another and oneself and motivation to actively improve the life of the loved one.
Later during the event, Sullivan described a thought experiment she had conducted with her students wherein she had asked them, 鈥淚f you could take a pill that made you love absolutely everyone, would you?鈥� She said she was surprised to find that none of her students would choose to take the pill, and went on to address their objections 鈥� including notions like 鈥淟ove requires partiality!鈥� and 鈥淭he pill ignores merit!鈥� Sullivan ended her talk with practical advice on how to love people more but was careful to acknowledge that no one is obligated to help everyone.
After Sullivan鈥檚 presentation, Arpaly responded by arguing that the idea of loving everyone renders love meaningless. 鈥淚f you love someone for their humanity, it鈥檚 humanity you love,鈥� said Arpaly. The event ended with a question-and-answer with the audience.
Over 140 people attended the forum, said Emily Ma 鈥�21, one of the organizers of the event. The event was almost entirely student-organized, according to Justin Doyle, a ministry fellow with Christian Union and a participant in a fellowship program with the Veritas Forum this year. The Veritas Forum is an organization that aids students in planning forums 鈥渢o help facilitate conversation on campus around larger issues鈥� from a Christian perspective, Doyle said.
The Veritas Forum at Brown partnered with the Program for Ethical Inquiry in the philosophy department to plan the event. 鈥淒oing this partnership with the philosophy department at Brown for us 鈥� no matter how tonight鈥檚 event turns out 鈥� is just a big win,鈥� Doyle said the morning before the forum. He went on to express his appreciation 鈥渢hat we could come alongside them and build a relationship with them and seek after truth together, even from different worldviews.鈥�
Indigo Funk 鈥�22, who worked on advertising for the forum, explained that he got involved through his interest in the group鈥檚 mission of engaging the campus. 鈥淚鈥檓 hoping that it can be a chance for the whole campus community to come together and find some new points of view and gain some perspectives that maybe we haven鈥檛 considered before in some things that are really important to our lives,鈥� Funk said.
