Your Brain in Love: Scientific American

Not long ago we learned the “scientific” reasons we like music. Today, for Valentine’s Day, we discover why we love:

Men and women can now thank a dozen brain regions for their romantic fervor. Researchers have revealed the fonts of desire by comparing functional MRI studies of people who indicated they were experiencing passionate love, maternal love or unconditional love.

[From Your Brain in Love: Scientific American]

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not the “neurotransmitters and other chemicals in the brain and blood that prompt greater euphoric sensations,” I am nothing.

Or perhaps on this reductionist view I am nothing regardless. Scientism speaks. What remains?

Happy Valentine’s Day to all who know better than this, and even to those who do not.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Of Roots and Adventures

Peter J. Leithart

I have lived in Ohio, Michigan, Georgia (twice), Pennsylvania, Alabama (also twice), England, and Idaho. I left…

Our Most Popular Articles of 2025

The Editors

It’s been a big year for First Things. Our website was completely redesigned, and stories like the…

Our Year in Film & Television—2025

Various

First Things editors and writers share the most memorable films and TV shows they watched this year.…