In the fields of evolutionary psychology and sociobiology the feelings that we refer to as love are said to be a part of the pair bonding process. Basically the idea is that when you become physically and emotionally intimate with someone a series of biochemical processes start to take place that incline you to act in the ways people typically act when they say that they are in love. The purpose of this is adaptive, that is it solves problems faced in the ancestral environment. Many people dislike this proposition because, they claim, that it reduces love to deterministic and mechanistic phenomena and destroys the idea of true love. What do you think: do biochemical explanations of love really cheapen love? Personally I think not, because no matter what the cause when you love someone you are genuinely having those feelings, and you are genuinely doing the things that people do when they say they are in love. Of course it does seem to imply that people are not 'made for' each other, but rather you could fall in love with any number of people who share the right experiences with you. But I kind of like that idea too.
I have also heard of this explanation for the amourous feelings of "love" towards a mate. To me I dont think it cheapens the idea of love at all because it's still a magical thing that happens with biological chemicals because not everyone will bond with you. It takes a special someone for that bond to last. This could explain why some people who are horrible matches for eachother stay together for years.. well that and laziness and low self-esteem I suppose. But this is why you date someone for a bit and then decide if it works or not. I would say bonding also has to a lot to do with how pheromones work. I SWEAR we can sense pheromones for potential mates as well as the animals can. Which is why certain people smell better to you than others and which is also why your siblings smell horrible (or are supposed to) It's supposed to discourage inbreeding because the chromosomes will be too similar. Whereas; if someone smells really good to you it means that biologically you are a good match for eachother. Another reason why I don't date people who wear cologne, I can't tell how they actually smell. Good topic!
I don't think that having more knowledge about our biological processes harms the feelings we have for other people. I know that becoming physically intimate with someone amps up my "good" brain chemicals but I don't think about that as it happens, I just feel the love...as most people do when its right in front of them.
