"All love, however ethereal it may pretend to be, is rooted
solely in the sexual instinct; it is nothing more nor less than
specialised, strictly speaking individualised, sexual desire."
Schopenhauer's conception of love does not rise above this specialised
impulse. He calmly ignores all phenomena such as those I have described
because they do not fit his theory. With the exception of his cheap
observation that contrasts attract each other (which is the pith of all
his "truths") he does not adduce the smallest evidence for the truth of
his myth of "the genius of the species spreading his wings over the
coming generation." However much the results of breeders may be
applicable to the human species, they have nothing to do with love, and
the believers in the theory of the instinct of philoprogenitiveness are
silent on the subject of the best and most suitable subject for the
purpose; is it the law-abiding citizen? the restless reformer? or the
artist and thinker? Strange to say, the legend of the instinct of
philoprogenitiveness, intuitively conscious of the right way, is to-day
accepted even by scientists who are in sympathy neither with
Schopenhauer's nor with any other metaphysic.
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