Opposite of Love

[bennyboy]

Love
|
|
-----indifference-------
|
|
hate

The question can you love and hate something would then be relevant. Or we could simply say that love is xx degree away from indifference and hate is xx away from indifference and they are usually opposed to each other like contrasting colors on a spectrum.

This is your view on life.

[tackattack]

well my wife is the star wars buff, I'm a trekkie. I don't see where it has relevance though other than the shape and my awesome outlook on the future.

[possibletarian]

I'm not actually sure love (or hate) has an opposite.

[pocaracas]

At first glance, between those two options, I'd go with indifference.

It is indifference that makes wars produce such a huge number of civilian casualties. I can't believe that any military force feels hate towards the people who just want to be left alone and live out their lives in peace.
Indifference combined with the desire to overpower, to control.

Imagine that scenario between two individuals, where one wants to control and overpower the other and is indifferent to any suffering (physical and/or psychological) it brings about.

But, for inspiration to find the better word for this exercise, nothing like peeking into the thesaurus...
https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/love?s=t

Antonyms for love

   animosity
   dislike
   enmity
   hate
   hatred
   ill will
   indifference
   neglect
   apathy
   coolness
   disloyalty
   misery
   sorrow
   treachery
   unhappiness

I'd pick out animosity, ill will, neglect (goes together with indifference), treachery... none of these can exist between two people if there is love in between them.

[Private]

Ohhhh...Val, you can't be the opposite of love.... You're all love!

Btw for me opposite of love this is kind of indifference...we know that we can love and hate someone in the same moment... so for me the opposite of love is the lack of any feelings ... lack of interest ... no reaction to someone or something ... so I bet on indifference ...but of course according to the dictionary, the opposite of love is hatred ... and I'm not going to argue with it😀

You wouldn't say that if you knew the mood I'm in at the moment.

Ohhhh ... I'm so sorry Val😢, I know, and ... I didn't mean that ... I just wanted to say that you're a wonderful person full of love, even if your emotional state isn't in a good condition right now..

[Angrboda]

Just off the top o' my head, I'd say revulsion is the opposite of love. Love is attraction toward, and revulsion is repelling away.

[tackattack]

hrm... After digesting some of the responses I see some similarities.

We have
A. those that see the opposite of one emotion being another emotion
B. those that feel any emotion is just a degree on a scale and the opposite is a null position
C. people like possibletarian that just sit on the fence and refuse to make any assertion. (no offense meant, I hope none taken)

How do A type people explain feeling multiple opposing emotions at the same time or towards the same thing?

[Chad32]

I guess you can feel mixed emotions. My dad treats me like shit most of the time I spend more than half a day with him, but I'm told he loves me and does go out of his way to do me favors from time to time. I have neighbors who stress me out half the time, but also make pretty good company the other half.

Emotions are funny, and honestly I don't have an answer for it. We feel different emotions at different times, and rarely do we feel one singular emotion towards people every time we interact with them.

[Angrboda]

hrm... After digesting some of the responses I see some similarities.

We have
A. those that see the opposite of one emotion being another emotion
B. those that feel any emotion is just a degree on a scale and the opposite is a null position
C. people like possibletarian that just sit on the fence and refuse to make any assertion. (no offense meant, I hope none taken)

How do A type people explain feeling multiple opposing emotions at the same time or towards the same thing?

Both are acceptable. The opposite of one force is usually an equal and opposite force. The point being that opposites exist along the same axis, so opposition would require being a force. But presence is also opposite to absence, so that's valid as well. I don't see the two as necessarily inconsistent so much as a difference in emphasis upon what specifically one is placing the opposition against. And that decision has no logical resolution.

[tackattack]

I don't get opposites existing on the same axis.

-5 and 5 are on an axis, and we assume they are opposites only if we assume that there's a 0 and that they're on the same axis. They are 2 different numbers and while their characteristics may be the similar you can't mathematically be both 5 and -5 . It presupposes that every real number (emotion) has an opposite. Yes you can feel emotionally inconsistent positive and negative emotions at the same time, but they are still distinct like 5 and -5. The only constant in the above is 0 (or -0, 0 and +0 for you math buffs) which I posit as the difference of emotion. Whatever emotion you are feeling it's opposite is no emotion. regardless of the characteristics of said emotion. You can feel more Love and less love (magnitude) but reducing less love to it's conclusion is 0 or no emotion.

Did that make any sense to anyone other than me? I feel I explained that horribly.