2013 – Most Philosophical 8th Grader in America

Jacob Atlas, Texas.

Love Vs. Hate

Love and hate are integral to our society, they have created and destroyed entire nations, be it the Romans or the Russians. So we must ask ourselves which is more powerful, is it hate or is it love? The answer to this question is that it can't be answered. Love and Hate are one in the same, without love hate cannot exist and with the absence of hate love cannot be; they are both simply different ways to describe the same bigger emotion which is passion. Passion is what is powerful, love and hate are just ways the emotion we call passion exerts itself.

Hegelian dialectic describes the thesis, antithesis and then finally the new synthesis. This is the same relationship that hate, love, and passion have. Hate or love acts as the thesis, and its opposite acts as the antithesis. These two things, love and hate form a new synthesis of passion. To have love or hate have any power it needs an antithesis; without it the thesis cannot undergo its metamorphosis, rendering it with no power. So to say that either hate or love is more powerful is a lie because they need each other to create power. The only thing that hate and love do is form passion. Passion is the manifestation of the two entities, and because of this hate and love are the same.

Hate and love are also connected by cause and effect. Like the thesis and antithesis one needs the other so that it can enforce its beliefs. The Catholic Church was formed because of some people's love of Jesus Christ. But that love would not have existed if he had not become a martyr due to the crucifixion he experienced, an event created by hate. That same church also created the crusades; another event where the cause was love but the effect was hate. In all these examples one needs the other. Hate needs love and love needs hate.

Some people may object to the statement about how love and hate need each other and that those previous examples, although they need that balance do not show that all things need that balance of hate and love. But a problem arises when you make the argument that hate and love do not need something to fuel those emotions. How can someone hate or love something when there is no emotion to love or hate. All hate and all love needs the other so that it can be fueled. You cannot love or hate without the other because then there is nothing to hate.

Hate and love are aspects of our life that are necessary for any interaction, and people like to think of them as opposing forces. But in reality they are inseparable; both necessary so that the other may exist. Without one the other can't be fueled, and because of this the question cannot be answered. They are both as strong as the other because they are the same thing.

 

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