Philosophy of Relationship Dilemmas

Here we have a fascinating if light-hearted summary of the "dilemmas of relationships," one which astutely places the concepts of "loyalty" and "freedom" in tension, with prioritization of either against the other having attendant upsides and downsides.  Each archetype of relationships in society (marriage, divorce, and 5 other alternatives) is examined as featuring certain advantages and disadvantages.

No archetype being free of disadvantages, a central, underlying problem is then identified: "why are others so hard to love" and "why are we ourselves so hard to live with"?

Without explicitly coming out in favor of a given relationship format, the discourse arrives at a summary recommendation for curing the central problem and relieving a relationship archetype of its negative aspects: 

Develop our emotional skills, because “the solution to the dilemmas of relationships should be to increase our understanding of how to love, rather than merely making it easier to find and fire new lovers."


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J Harrison Fulk