Cicero on love

This article investigates Cicero's thoughts about love. According to this Roman philosopher a disposition to love is given to people by nature. He defines love ( amor ) as recognition of importance of another person per se and an aspiration to do anything good for him unselfishly. Love as a philosophical category allows Cicero to explain a person's behavior, to disclose importance of a person for another person, to display a moral similarity of both loving persons as well as to explain unification of people in associations of different levels (matrimonial and family relations, friendship, neighborhood, citizenship, nationality, humankind). In Cicero's opinion, the widespread understanding of love as a passion is erroneous and leads to violation of moral and legal norms, therefore Cicero's attitude to this passion is extremely negative.