Full Idea
The relationship we seek in love is essentially one of mutual reciprocation. As much as I desire my beloved, I want them to desire me; to seek in me the source of their well-being. It makes no sense to have this desire for landscapes, art or the stars.
Gist of Idea
Love is a mutual reciprocation, not just a desire for something
Source
Tom Cochrane (The Aesthetic Value of the World [2021], 1.2)
A Reaction
[contra Nehamas] Does this mean that being 'in love' does not count as love at all? Presumably we have to distinguish love with someone from the yearning for that love. (This the view of love is the one my wife and I settled on many years ago!).
Book Reference
Cochrane,Tom: 'The Aesthetic Value of the World' [OUP 2021], p.12