“Love and its Enhancement: can we already decide upon it?”

Abstract

From love potions and spells, to technologies that are able to eliminate the mere memory of a loved one, as is the case in the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, the idea of being able to manipulate the very deep emotion of love has been a continuous thought throughout human life. Today, the innovative and controversial process of love enhancement, namely the ability to enhance or block sentiments of love in a person’s brain, through the use of psychopharmaceuticals, is being greatly disputed, establishing it as one of the most interesting and, at the same time, ambiguous ethical topics to be discussed. While the mere practical procedure is still in its earlier developmental stages, making it quite hard to envision a future in which such love drugs are being implemented, it is still quite important to understand the claims and the ideas that are being proposed by both those who are strictly against or greatly support this practice. This means also analyzing the supposed cases in which these enhancers would be consumed, without the need to necessarily form an opinion on the matter, as the process of love enhancement can spark a further discussion on important philosophical and ethical concepts, such as well-being, mental capacity, intrinsic value and different accounts of morality.