A Comparative Study Of Aristotelian Fraternal Love And Christian Universal Love

Love is not merely the natural emotion of an individual. It reflects human beings desire for and pursuit of the good and virtuous things on the one hand, and embodies human's spiritual values in different historical periods and social forms on the other hand. Aristotle, an important representative of the ancient Greek Philosopher and Ethicist, advocates the thought of fraternal love, which has created favorable conditions for the development and extension of the later Christian universal love. However, there exit some essential differences between fraternal love and universal love. The former is regarded as important criteria in assessing a persons moral qualities in ancient Greece. It is the free will of human beings which is formed through selection and cultivation and can be accounted for through the behavior of people. So Aristotle distinct the fraternal love for the sake of unility, the one for pleasure and the one for virtue qua Good according different motivation in both sides of the fraternal love, distinct fraternal love for equal's and unequal's. The fraternal love also has the features of mutuality, similarity and common life. The Christian universal love and can be accounted for a favor granted by the God as well as a decree from Him. The love of human beings is a reflection of love form the God. Christian universal love is the love God. This love embraces both the love of God and the love of neighbor. It's this essential difference that leads to the dissimilarities in "the scope of love", "the driving force of love" and "the action forms of love" between fraternal love and universal love. Therefore, to clarify the essential contents of Aristotelian fraternal love and Christian universal love and the relationships between them will be conducive to people living in modern things in finding a path to the spiritual homeland. For Aristotelian fraternal love is to purify the spirit in the secular life, while the universal love of Christianity is to loving human being a transcendental care in their spiritual destination.