Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it…but why do we do it?  Why do Americans (and other fools) fall in love?  After all, love hurts, and we all know what becomes of the broken hearted.  And yet, even when loving is wrong, we don't want to be right.  Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage; but are they just as obsolete?

            This course is intended as a serious, but intermittently lighthearted look at a supposedly lighthearted but serious subject…love, and especially at the sort of love that culminates, and often self-destructs, in the institution called marriage.  This is not the only kind of love that we will be examining in this course.  Rather, we will examine the relationship between romantic love - both heterosexual and non-heterosexual - and other forms of love - the love of family, the love of country, and even the love of God.

            Our exploration will involve the close study of philosophical, religious, literary, and historical texts, together with a careful viewing of several films.  As the opening of this course description suggests, we will even briefly examine the understanding of love in our popular culture.

            In short, we will examine the many forms that love has taken in human history.  By looking at the many ways that human beings have loved, and at the many things they do love, we will shed light on our own loves, hopes and dreams.  Our ultimate goal will be to learn that love can heal us as well as hurt us, and that it might sometimes be wise, as well as foolish, to fall in love.  In fact, for all its illusions, love may be the highest form of reality available to us.