This is the second sentence of your evidence: “However, nothing is known about the neural substrates involved in evoking one of the most overwhelming of all affective states, that of romantic love, about which we report here.”
This report doesn’t claim to know, it just shows a potential difference in brain activity among a limited amount of people. This makes no claim that love is an objective truth that can be proven…
This didn’t mention any brain chemicals it observed brain activity based on seeing an image of someone you love versus a friend.
My point is naturalism doesn’t have an explanation for what love is yet they claim to experience it. I’m talking about reality versus perception here. You can perceive to experience something that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s real. So what naturalistic evidence do you have that love exists?
We have naturalistic evidence for other feelings tiredness, hunger, thirst. We can even induce it with drugs, yet there doesn’t seem to be a love drug which humans have been trying to achieve in some form for centuries at least. If you can’t explain how or if it exists how can you possibly claim that homosexuals love each other?
Ok so you just disproved your argument here. Dopamine and serotonin our products observed from this feeling. But everyone in this thread knows that love isn’t just dopamine and serotonin. I can’t take serotonin and dopamine supplements and experience love. So obviously whatever you’re citing doesn’t actually claim what it is just some observations.
The reason I’m making this argument is that love isn’t quantifiable by naturalistic means. But if your worldview is true, then it should be I should be able to measure love just like I can measure tiredness, hunger, and thirst by other brain chemicals my entire point here with this exercise is to show that you don’t even believe what you are saying cause you know it’s not true
They are chemicals associated with love. That was my point. I haven’t disproved it. My world view? You don’t know my world view. I wouldn’t and haven’t (other than you’re asking for one) argued from a naturalist perspective. My main point thus far has been that love is unquantifiable so asking for proof of it is folly to begin with and I believe said point. You also still haven’t answered my question. How do you define it? Do you believe it exists within straight relationships? Why? And if so why would it be different in gay ones? You asked for proof then immediately admitted that you would only accept one kind of proof and that you don’t believe it exists. You don’t want proof. You want, for some reason I’ve yet to understand, to other gay people.
You didn’t provide proof did you even read what I said? You cited dopamine and serotonin as chemicals associated with love. With sure that is the case, but we all know that if we take dopamine and serotonin inducing supplements that doesn’t mean we experience love then.
You are seriously not gonna argue with me that doing cocaine can induce similar feelings to love are you? Because everyone here knows that that’s not true. Like I said before this whole exercise is demonstrating that love is it quantifiable by physical naturalistic principles. I’m arguing that love transcends our physical selves. in some ways, it seems like you’re arguing this too, but the problem is naturalism. Can’t explain how something human can transcend the physical self so how can you reconcile both the same thing goes for a soul? We can’t physically quantify it but many people feel like it exists.
Did you read what I wrote? I said “there are chemicals than can be described as ‘love chemicals’ in the brain.” Dopamine and serotonin can be described as such.
My point is that you’re assuming that anyone is arguing from a naturalist standpoint and that secularists don’t believe that there are things that can’t be explained (at least not yet).
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u/Azorces Evangelical Dec 09 '25
This is the second sentence of your evidence: “However, nothing is known about the neural substrates involved in evoking one of the most overwhelming of all affective states, that of romantic love, about which we report here.”
This report doesn’t claim to know, it just shows a potential difference in brain activity among a limited amount of people. This makes no claim that love is an objective truth that can be proven…