Philosophy of Love: A Partial Summing Up

Philosophy of Love: A Partial Summing-Up is a 2009 book by the American philosopher Irving Singer, published by MIT Press. Alan Soble stated in its foreword that the book "is as much an intellectual biography as it is an exploration of love and sex".

I have emphasized numerous times, in print and in conversations with curious students and colleagues: if you want to study the philosophy of love and sex, Professor Singer's trilogy should be at the top of your list. But having read his new book, which summarizes, explains, and elaborates various themes found in The Nature of Love, I realize that I wish this book had been available to me in my salad days, that I had read it before immersing myself in the entire trilogy. That is now what I will say to those potential students of the philosophy of love and sex who ask me where they should start. First this book, then The Nature of Love.

Erica Lucast Stonestreet has noted in a review of the book in the Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews that "it lacks an overarching thesis and may for this reason be disappointing to someone who is looking for a systematic introduction to the philosophy of love". Stonestreet conceded that Singer shares a "strand of thought" with the philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt in that "both believe that love involves bestowing value on the beloved".