The 4 types of love according to the Greeks

According to the Greeks, love is an abstract concept that is part of the life of every human being, being one of the main responsible for changes and decision-making throughout our existence. In this sense and despite the abstraction of the concept, there are four types of love that differ considerably between them presenting some very interesting peculiarities that are worth knowing.

Agape love

Agape love is undoubtedly one of the deepest and most concrete loves that a human being can experience, since it has a much more global and extensive perspective than any of the other three types of love.

Basically we are talking about a feeling that is born with respect to a universal concept such as the love we feel for nature itself, the love we feel for a god or even the love that we can feel for all humanity.

It should be noted that, except in very specific cases, agape love is a love that considerably benefits the person who feels it, since it has the ability to enrich and open the mind without fear and with the possibility of knowing new things to which otherwise we would never have dared to cope.

On the other hand, one of the characteristics that also defines it is the fact that we are talking about a type of love that in today's society is quite damaged, and the reason for this damage is fundamentally due to hatred, fear and intolerance. as well as the falsehood with which many people want to show that they have this type of love inside them, when in reality they only do it to satisfy a certain group.

All these behaviors make one close and not allow to go further and know this type of love in extension, so that it could be found within any of us, but we would never experience it because we did not come to believe strongly in it. .

Love eros

As to eros love is about a more carnal and intense type of love but that generally has the characteristic of being ephemeral, that is, in the same way that it arrives, it ends up leaving.

One of the ingredients that nourish this love is precisely the passion and carnal desire of all human beings, in addition to the fact that, in the case of man, it is nourished through the idealization of both the person and the situation in which that we meet at that very moment.

To give our readers an idea, eros love is basically the love of a sexual nature, so it is the kind of love that gives rise to occasional sexual encounters and even infidelities.

Love philia

We now turn to philia love, which is the love we feel for our neighbor. In this sense, you can see that it would be similar to agape love, but in this case we would speak from a more specific perspective, since it is a feeling that is born towards a particular person or even towards a certain group, and feeds on solidarity and the Brotherhood.

This type of love is highly valued and highly recommended for all human beings, since it is considered to be the type of love from which the common good and selflessness are born, so that these people strive to help those who there is around you without the need to expect anything in return.

For this, certain elements must be used such as cooperation, respect and kindness, all of them somewhat absent in the vast majority of the population, although in reality it is important to take into account that they are still alive in all human beings, in a way that a person well directed in this sense can come to feel this love and completely change both his life and his relationship with others.

Love storgé

We end with storgé love, which is brotherly love, long lasting and that implies a commitment on our part and on the other person's part.

Although in some cases it can be relatively sudden, we must be clear that this type of love generally requires a certain time to develop, which means that what we know as love at first sight would be eros loveAnd the love for that person with whom we want to spend the rest of our lives, not only for having idealized her but for sharing much more intense things with her, would be storgé love.

From storgé love a protective and loyal feeling is born, so that it is not only presented in relation to the love we feel towards that person with whom we fall in love with whom we want to unite for the rest of our lives, but also even in relation to all those people who form an important part of our lives. lives and that above all we have the need to protect and care above anything else.

It should be noted that the classification that we have prepared is the one based on the concept and classification of the types of love according to the Greeks, but over time other alternatives have emerged that have sought to be more specific and above all to find the meaning of some of the doubts that may remain from these four definitions or classifications.

However, the Greek concept of love types is the one that has endured the longest, not only because it is older, but because of the fact that, if we delve into them, we will realize that they really include all possibilities, what which means that in reality it is not necessary to add other additional options since in a way it would simply be a subdivision within each of the Greek love classes since otherwise we would be redundant.