Can we have compassion for our dying child without love?
Absolutely.
Doesn't that love manifest as compassion, a deep caring?
Of course it can. This is not an a=b therefore b=a sylogism though.
That's what I've been talking about all along and that is the love I asked for your definition of. And what is the opposite of that love? Hate, jealousy,etc.? And what is the root of hate? It's fear and when we fear doesn't our Adrenalin escalate?
Do we give our heart to our neighbor's child? Why not? We don't love our neighbor's child, that's why.
Or maybe we have others that we love more. You are being awfully binary when the situation is much more complex than that.
It is our love that motivates the action.
Yeah, sometimes, maybe. I would never claim to know what guides a complete stranger to give their life for another, but in the case of intimates sacrificing for one another, I think it is safe to assume that love is involved.
So the question is why? Why do we willingly give our life? It's not instinct, we are thinking, contemplating our life, our loved one's life, that we will die. Why do we do it? Why not let the weak die and have more children? Why not self preservation? Where's the science to justify the action?
Mutual altruism is an effective way to promote group well-being.
"Ok... And what does this have to do with the price of tea in China?
You appear to be trying to back me in to a corner when really I have nothing but fertile grassland behind me."
No, you're switching tracks. Look at your definition of love. Are we talking about copulating? Is that what you're thinking when your loved one is dying?
Why are you focusing on one part of my definition and excluding others, especially when I said the list is not exclusive? It was not even the first thing I mentioned. You asked for a definition of love and I gave one that attempted to be somewhat thorough, and a somewhat thorough definition of love should try to include sex because a lot of people in love have sex.
I'm staying on topic, you gave me this nonsense about my "feelings" which is saying that I have this great depth of feelings and understanding but do you? Because if you don't then my definition will be beyond your ability to comprehend, which is arrogant. Then you gave me an answer that has little if anything to do with "feelings". But we're talking about feelings, about compassion, aren't we but your definition never addressed that, did it?
If you want me to define a feeling for you without appealing to poetry or metaphor, that is to say defining it in a rational, logical way, it should probably not be either a) referring to other emotions, because it begs the question and/or b) be subjective.
Answer the question above. Where's the science?
R
http://neuro.hms.harvard.edu/harvard-mahoney-neuroscience-institute/brain-newsletter/and-brain-series/love-and-braingreatergood.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/Trivers-EvolutionReciprocalAltruism.pdf
weber.ucsd.edu/~jmoore/publications/Recip.html
Are you telling me you have never looked it up? You should research neuroscience, psychology, evolutionary biology and sociology.