Philosophy 325
Dr. Sher
05/16/2018
“We’re Getting the Implants!”
The love implant is a tool that connects to the brain, takes over, and carries out love’s job.
It provides the brain with the common chemicals that are typically released when a person is
feeling love. Bonding chemicals like Oxytocin are discharged when experiencing joy with
someone a loved one and with the implant, every time the loved one is seen, Oxytocin will be
released. This drug is one that is most crucial to mothers and babies; it triggers contractions
when pregnant and the release of milk (Haidt, 2006). In males, it merely assists in moving sperm
and keeps the flow of testosterone production in the testes (Hormone Health Network, 2018).
Oxytocin is most significant in attaching women to their offspring, which is a crucial element of
the caregiving system. When Oxytocin floods the brain with skin-to-skin contact, the effects are
serene and relaxing. Haidt claims that the caregiving system and mating system are usually
separate in animals, but in humans, this has changed over time. The feeling of love, to Haidt, is
not a cultural construct, but a universal human phenomenon that was selected for very early on,
when the human brain began to enlarge. Infants started to leave the womb much earlier without
their fully developed brains, which meant they were much more dependent on their mothers. As
mothers could not care for all their children while subsisting and protecting them, they began
mating with males that supported them and assisted them with caregiving. Modern relationships
of romantic love consist of both the mating system and the caregiving system. (Haidt, 2006).
However, many people do not stay in love with their partners for various reasons. But with a
love implant continually releasing Oxytocin, a couple may feel the way they felt when they were
first in love, every time they see each other. With so many companionships ending in divorce or
a split, families are often torn apart, and children are growing up without the proper two parents
, in the home. With our dilemma at hand, we must now consider if it would be reasonable for
humans to begin using a love implant, which would keep them “happy” together, forever. The
love implants would essentially release the right amount of drugs into the brain that would keep
the love feeling present in the two individuals for as long as they wear it.
At first glance, one might say that if couples were to use the love implants, it could give
today’s broken down, exhausted version of love another chance. However, one with a view like
Arthur Schopenhauer’s may disagree. According to him, romantic love is a relatively new and
unnatural feeling humans have. It can be viewed as humans’ attempt at trying to make reason of
continuing our species. Arthur Schopenhauer discusses this in his, “World as Will and Idea.” He
claims not only that love is an illusion, but it is there to distract us from the way things really are
in the world. He argues that our sexual instincts deceive us and makes us believe love is the key
to furthering our species. It illudes us in a way that we begin to think it is a good, positive
feeling, which deals only with the parties involved. However, according to Schopenhauer, we are
only benefitting ourselves as a species, not as individuals like most believe. It is a man-made,
cultural construction that is wrongfully believed to make ourselves good people, yet it can bring
out the worst in us and does not normally bring about the results we intend it to have (Solomon
and Higgins, 1991). According to Schopenhauer’s view, a love implant would only continue the
problem. If humans were trapped with their feelings of love for a person, it would only make
them do more wrong for themselves and others, and keep them lost in the illusion that love has
made. However, having a “humanistic” reason for carrying out “animalistic” behaviors, isn’t
such a terrible thing. It’s not wrong that people want to commit to another person, and have
children and a family. Therefore, if the love implant could not only continue this pursuit of
companionship but make relationships more reliable and strong, it would lead to long-lasting,
Dr. Sher
05/16/2018
“We’re Getting the Implants!”
The love implant is a tool that connects to the brain, takes over, and carries out love’s job.
It provides the brain with the common chemicals that are typically released when a person is
feeling love. Bonding chemicals like Oxytocin are discharged when experiencing joy with
someone a loved one and with the implant, every time the loved one is seen, Oxytocin will be
released. This drug is one that is most crucial to mothers and babies; it triggers contractions
when pregnant and the release of milk (Haidt, 2006). In males, it merely assists in moving sperm
and keeps the flow of testosterone production in the testes (Hormone Health Network, 2018).
Oxytocin is most significant in attaching women to their offspring, which is a crucial element of
the caregiving system. When Oxytocin floods the brain with skin-to-skin contact, the effects are
serene and relaxing. Haidt claims that the caregiving system and mating system are usually
separate in animals, but in humans, this has changed over time. The feeling of love, to Haidt, is
not a cultural construct, but a universal human phenomenon that was selected for very early on,
when the human brain began to enlarge. Infants started to leave the womb much earlier without
their fully developed brains, which meant they were much more dependent on their mothers. As
mothers could not care for all their children while subsisting and protecting them, they began
mating with males that supported them and assisted them with caregiving. Modern relationships
of romantic love consist of both the mating system and the caregiving system. (Haidt, 2006).
However, many people do not stay in love with their partners for various reasons. But with a
love implant continually releasing Oxytocin, a couple may feel the way they felt when they were
first in love, every time they see each other. With so many companionships ending in divorce or
a split, families are often torn apart, and children are growing up without the proper two parents
, in the home. With our dilemma at hand, we must now consider if it would be reasonable for
humans to begin using a love implant, which would keep them “happy” together, forever. The
love implants would essentially release the right amount of drugs into the brain that would keep
the love feeling present in the two individuals for as long as they wear it.
At first glance, one might say that if couples were to use the love implants, it could give
today’s broken down, exhausted version of love another chance. However, one with a view like
Arthur Schopenhauer’s may disagree. According to him, romantic love is a relatively new and
unnatural feeling humans have. It can be viewed as humans’ attempt at trying to make reason of
continuing our species. Arthur Schopenhauer discusses this in his, “World as Will and Idea.” He
claims not only that love is an illusion, but it is there to distract us from the way things really are
in the world. He argues that our sexual instincts deceive us and makes us believe love is the key
to furthering our species. It illudes us in a way that we begin to think it is a good, positive
feeling, which deals only with the parties involved. However, according to Schopenhauer, we are
only benefitting ourselves as a species, not as individuals like most believe. It is a man-made,
cultural construction that is wrongfully believed to make ourselves good people, yet it can bring
out the worst in us and does not normally bring about the results we intend it to have (Solomon
and Higgins, 1991). According to Schopenhauer’s view, a love implant would only continue the
problem. If humans were trapped with their feelings of love for a person, it would only make
them do more wrong for themselves and others, and keep them lost in the illusion that love has
made. However, having a “humanistic” reason for carrying out “animalistic” behaviors, isn’t
such a terrible thing. It’s not wrong that people want to commit to another person, and have
children and a family. Therefore, if the love implant could not only continue this pursuit of
companionship but make relationships more reliable and strong, it would lead to long-lasting,
