Liebe allein oder zu zweit? Fragmente einer europäischen Diskursgeschichte

Abstract

In this essay, two major books on love are discussed: Love as passion by Niklas Luh- mann and A lover’s discourse by Roland Barthes. Starting with the platonic distinction of ›the lover‹ and ›the beloved‹ and the gendered implications of these two subject positions, the article focuses on a discursive line that is often underestimated: the conception of love as a phenomenon that requires reciprocity (the love of a couple), or of love as the radically subjective and subjectivating condition of a single individual. Luhmann’s and Barthes’ books prove to represent the two models in a typical way. This is arguably the consequence of different disciplinary approaches, but at the same time the result of different conceptions of academic writing: claims on objectivity on the one side, assumed subjectivity of the author on the other.