The Problem of Love from Sartre and Beauvoir to Irigaray

The common idea of love is a fusion of the individuals into one. The idea has permeated throughout society so that it has now been taken for granted. Such an idea of fusion of two individuals is actually harmful rather than helpful. Starting with Sartre, he is the paradigmatic example of the traditional model of love going wrong. By taking the fusion model to its final culmination, love is impossible or—among other things— sadomasochistic. Beauvoir reads Sartre's view as a bad-faith version of love. She inserts her view by giving an account of the “woman in love” which is an example of a woman under Sartre's interpretation of love. Beauvoir states that authentic love can only happen if the individuals are equal. That way, love can have grounds for culmination and fusion. Irigaray looks at the fusion model as debunked. She sees what Sartre and Beauvoir assuming major things. Irigaray states that genuine love is based on the differences— particularly sexual differences—which Sartre and Beauvoir have failed to realize. By looking at Irigaray's account of love, the traditional fusion model is debunked and love based on differences is applauded.