Love

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Abstract

This chapter examines different forms of gratitude for those we love. We often tolerate our loved ones’ flaws, but sometimes we go a step beyond that, actually appreciating those flaws. We find them charming or endearing. It is argued that gratitude fits these flaws because they draw value from the loved one. Sometimes, when the flaw becomes increasingly bad, this gratitude must be cancelled or modified. It is suggested that death works like this: as part of a good, we can affirm it, but not quite in the way that gratitude is an affirmation—the affirmation needs to be modified given how bad passing away is.