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Romantic or cynic: romantic attraction as justification
Book chapter

Romantic or cynic: romantic attraction as justification

Diane Jeske
Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight, pp.102-118
Philosophers on film, Routledge
2021

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Abstract

Pop music is almost entirely devoted to songs about being attracted to someone, being wildly in love with someone, or being heartbroken at the loss of someone. Movies have the shortcoming of having to present the development of attraction and love within a roughly two-hour time frame. In Linklater’s trilogy, Jesse and Celine spend an evening and night together in Vienna and a few hours together in Paris nine years later. At the end of Sunset, Jesse has effectively decided to abandon his life in New York and to stay in Paris to be with Celine. Harry Frankfurt has famously defended the so-called ‘no-reasons’ view, according to which love is not subject to justification, because the objects of our love provide the foundation for our reasons. Bernard Williams has famously said that in many cases one ought to act simply for the well-being of a beloved intimate and that any other intrusive thoughts are “one thought too many”.

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