In philosophy, the problem of love questions whether the desire to do good for another is based solely on the outward ability to love another person because the lover sees something (or someone) worth loving, or if a little self-interest is always present in the desire to do good for another. Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Love Look up love in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Self-interest can refer to any of the following concepts: Egoism Selfishness Ethical egoism Psychological egoism Individualism Objectivist ethics Hedonism Epicureanism Enlightened self-interest This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

The problem arises from an analysis of the human will and is often debated among Thomistic philosophers. The "problem" centers on Thomas Aquinas's understanding that human expressions of love are always based partly on love of self and similtude of being: “Even when a man loves in another what he loves not in himself, there is a certain likeness of proportion: because as the latter is to that which is loved in him, so is the former to that which he loves in himself.” See Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (New York: Benziger Bros., 1948), I-II, Q. 27, Art. 3, rep. obj. 2.) Free will is the philosophical doctrine that holds that our choices are ultimately up to ourselves. ... Thomism is the philosophical school that followed in the legacy of Thomas Aquinas. ... Saint Thomas Aquinas [Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino] (c. ... The Summa Theologica (also widely known as the Summa Theologiae) is the most famous work of St. ...

The French philosopher Pierre Rousselot (1878-1915) locates the philosophical problem in terms of a pure "ecstatic" or totally selfless love versus an egoistic, more self-interested love, beginning his examination from Aristotle's text (Nicomachean Ethics, Book 9): Amicabilia quae sunt ad alterum vererunt amicabilibus quae sunt ad seipsum [The friendly feelings that we bear for another have arisen from the friendly feelings that we bear for ourselves]. See Pierre Rousselot, The Problem of Love in the Middle Ages: A Historical Contribution. Trans. Alan Vincelette (Milwaukee: Marquette Univ. Press, 2001). Nicomachean Ethics (sometimes spelled Nichomachean), or Ta Ethika, is a work by Aristotle on virtue and character which plays a prominent role in defining Aristotelian ethics. ...