5 October 2010: Page 310 #1

Love: A Science?

     Throughout time, people always been intrigued, desired, or have possessed love. Brownlee says that “love is central to human existence” (Brownlee 295). Love is written into us; it is a part of our biochemistry. Love is said to begin in motherhood (295), largely due to two things; the amount of time and energy that a mother devotes to her child and a hormone called oxytocin that catalysts women into motherhood. So arguably, since birth, mankind has been the recipient of love. Furthering this idea of love being related to chemistry, love uses messengers such as brain endorphins or opiates (296) that are associated with certain feelings. Strong feelings of desire and longing are chemically engineered and we know it as love.

     Not only is love chemical, but it is biological as well. Biologically, we as humans are wired to do certain things such as flirt, court, and pair off. We each have a love map that works as a template for what “arouses you sexually, what drives you to fall in love with one person rather than another” (Fisher 304). These maps lead us to have tendencies to want to pair with one particular person, “Pair- bonding is a trademark of the human animal” (306). Pairing off tends to lead people to the decision to be married. Fisher says about Americans, “We marry for love and to accentuate, balance out, or make parts of our private selves” (308). In other words, we biologically mate to complete ourselves and not for economic, political, or family reasons.

     When taking into consideration these two elements of science, it can change the way one looks at the idea and emotion of love. The divorce rate is high in the United States, at about a fifty percent failure rate. However, looking at the reason why Americans marry, it makes sense that as we change, we may no longer need that person. Studies show that people who have more kids, are less likely to divorce, out of due obligation to a family. If Americans truly embraced chemical and biological love, we would come to more fully understand and accept divorce. People should not have more kids just because it statistics show that it makes a marriage last longer; that then can become an issue of overpopulation. We are made to desire one another and to fall in love. Divorce is not always a bad thing, understanding the chemical and biological aspects of love make this clear.

Works Cited

Brownlee, Shannon. "Biochemistry- What’s Chemistry Got to Do With It?" Academic Communities/Disciplinary Conventions. Ed.Bonnie Beedles and Michael Petracca. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001. 294-298.

Fisher, Helen. "After All, Maybe It’s . . . Biology." Academic Communities/Disciplinary Conventions. Ed.Bonnie Beedles and Michael Petracca. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001. 299-309.