Dietrich Von Hildebrand on Love as a Value Response

Against all forms of distorted love, Hildebrand asserts that love is a value response to a particular person, an unrepeatable individual who bears the framework of an imago Dei. In this paper I argue that this “Hildebrandian “value response†is not a new appellation of the ancient reason for love which is based on the fulfilment of a need but a gift inhering in life itself, which arises exclusively from a participation in the value of the beloved person. In Hildebrand’s “value response†it is not selfish to want to have one’s own subjectivity, to be loved in return, to be happy in loving – as long as these desires are embedded in the value-responding affirmation of the beloved person. Therefore, love can exist only if it seeks no reward, but once it exists, it is rewarded.