Atheists, what is love?

Question

Does it truly exist, or is it merely an illusion of chance chemicals reacting in the brain causing the perception of euphoria? With atheism everything can be broken down into chemical reactions and molecules in motion. In fact, you can't even blame a serial killer for their actions. They just got unlucky I guess with their genetic makeup, if you even want to call it unlucky, because atheism has no grounds for objective morality.

Answer 1

Love is an evolved behaviour pattern that involves bio-chemical and electrical changes in the brain that can be observed, and that we experience as the range of feelings we call love. It has survival value for our species.



Religions have personified/deified it as divine beings, such as Aphrodite/Venus and Eros/Cupid.



People who don’t believe in God or gods, or supernatural beings generally, make choices and have the same basic morality as everyone else, as part of the complex behaviour patterns that evolved in our species, and others. When several behaviour patterns conflict in a given situation, our upbringing, experience, need to live as part of a community, and the satisfying chemical changes that evolved to happen in our brains when we do someone a favour, determine which to suppress; this is often done subconsciously, but can sometimes be conscious (which might be what we experience as conscience). And when this goes wrong, we have remedies as a species codified in laws, penalties and punishments.



Having experience of life, I base my choices on mutual respect and compassion for others.



I just don't attribute the origin of moral behaviour to mythical beings, or claim that the way we resolve conflicting behaviour patterns consciously is through something supernatural or that the conscience is supernatural or comes from a supernatural being.

Answer 2

A huge range of subjective, varying human emotions.

No, it's not a "thing" about which there is even a question of existence.



By the way, your dishonesty is showing again. The emotions we feel are chemically based, but they're not "illusions" -- we really feel them. They're also not "chance." Why keep dishonestly making straw-men to argue against, instead of dealing with facts? Your actions are dishonest and fallacious, and rather disturbing.



Then you go on to make fallacious and dishonest appeal to consequences fallacies -- which aren't even consequences of "atheism."



You've been dishonest all day long. Don't you get tired of lying?

Answer 3

An electrochemical reaction rooted in the primitive part of the brain.



By the way, there is no such thing as luck, good or bad. Nor does objective morality exist.

Answer 4

Well ACTUALLY I'm pretty sure atheism uses empathy as their basis for morality.



Also I love so much I will do almost anything (except like murder bc that's rude) for my closest friends and boyfriend. I would rather give my love to someone who needs/wants it than someone who doesn't exist/doesn't need my love

Answer 5

Love is an emotion, like other emotions.



Emotions are evolutionary constructs that have developed over many years for persons to survive in the world. Emotions are not limited to humans: dolphins, whales, elephants, higher primates all display emotions.



Love is real not in the sense it is a tangible object like a comptuer; love is real in the sense that we have empathy for others. Empathy and compassion are not limited to those of religious faith.

Answer 6

Everything, including love, is chemicals and their reactions. We are made of stardust, it's beautiful isn't it.



And you are correct, there is no objective basis for morality.

Answer 7

The second thing you said about the chemicals

Answer 8

LOL, not true, im christian and this isn't correct



not everything in athiesm has to do with chemical reactions.

Answer 9

Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more.



Love is a name which we gave to a set of behaviors repeatedly observed in humans.

It's based on empirical observation, just like all the other emotions.

Answer 10

There are a number of sorts of love.



Which one are you talking about? The love of a mother for her child?

The love of a man for a woman? The love of an obese person for Twinkies?

The love of a patriot for his country?



They are all different, you know.

Answer 11

Even if you believe god made humans, surely you'd concede that he made us out of various chemicals? I mean, we aren't beings of pure energy, are we?

Answer 12

Water is made up of chemical processes...



Does it make it any less water?



IMHO

Answer 13

does it surprise anyone christians don't know what Love is.,. and have to ask atheists about it?





LOL

Answer 14

I just hurt my neck.