Which Greek love is synonymous with pairbonding? – Storge

I asked the following question of five AI machines: Which Greek love is considered synonymous with pairbonding? 

ANSWERS:

1. BING COPILOT:
In the context of pairbonding, the Greek word “Storge” is particularly relevant. Let’s explore it further:

  • Storge:
    • Meaning: Storge refers to devoted love and is often associated with familial bonds.
    • Application: It describes the affection and care within families, especially between parents and children.
    • One-Sided: While it can be mutual, it may also be one-sided, such as a parent’s love for their child.
    • Long-Term Fulfillment: Storge is not as intense as other forms of love, but it is fulfilling and enduring over time.
    • Essential Component: In pairbonding relationships, Storge is vital alongside other forms of love, creating a strong and lasting bond.
    • Plato’s View: The combination of Storge and Eros (sexual desire) leads to the highest form of love—a “friendship between lovers”1.

So, when thinking about pairbonding, consider Storge—the devoted, caring love that forms the foundation for lasting connections.

2. GAB AI:
Storge, which is familial love, is often considered synonymous with pairbonding. This love is characterized by deep affection and familiarity, such as the love between parents and children, or close friends. It is a natural, unconditional love that develops over time through shared experiences and emotional bonds.

3. CHAT GPT:
The Greek love that is synonymous with pairbonding is “storge.” Storge is often associated with familial love, particularly the affectionate bond between parents and children, but it can also refer to the deep, steady affection that develops between partners or close friends over time. Storge is characterized by familiarity, loyalty, trust, commitment and mutual respect, making it closely tied to the idea of pairbonding or companionship, and the forming of lasting relationships.

4. AI CHATTING:
The Greek love concept that is considered synonymous with pairbonding is “storge.” Storge is an affectionate, familial type of love that is often associated with parent-child relationships or long-term friendships. It represents a deep bond and emotional attachment between individuals who have a strong sense of care and commitment towards each other.

5. YOU.COM:
The Greek love synonymous with pairbonding is storge. Storge refers to the love between family members and is characterized by a strong bond shared by parents, children, and those considered family. It is a protective love that can withstand hardships and trials. While the word storge doesn’t appear in the New Testament, the opposite form of storge is used twice in the New Testament, translated as “unloving” or “heartless.” It’s important to note that pair bonds are a biological phenomenon and are not equivalent to the human social institution of marriage, however marriage may be a consequence of pair bonding.

Sane alternatives to romantic love

Articles by Paul Elam:

– Arranged Marriages and the Rise of Romantic Love (2016)
– For Real Love to Emerge, Romantic Love Must Die – Part 1 (2017)
– For Real Love to Emerge, Romantic Love Must Die – Part 2 (2017)
– For Real Love to Emerge, Romantic Love Must Die – Part 3 (2017)

Articles on Christian vs. Romantic love by Paul Elam:

– How We Conflated the Love of Christ With the Love of Women (2024)
– How Jesus Rejected the Worship of Women (2024)
– Romantic Gynocentrism and The Reviling Wife (2024)
– The Great Conflation: Romantic vs Christian Love (2024)
– Harlequin Jesus (2024)

Articles by Peter Wright:

– Sexualized Romantic Love, and Pairbonding (2013)
– Romantic Love Vs. Friendship (2013)
– Down The Aisle Again On The Marriage Question: Is It Relevant? (2015)
– A Short Word on Love Terminology (2023)
– Love in the Song of Songs (2024)
– Don’t confuse Eros (sexual desire) with Amor (romantic love) (2024)
– Christian Churches Conflate Romantic Love with Agape (2024)
– Romantic Love versus Family Love: Amore vs Storge (2024)

Other authors on the topic of family love (storge):

– Storge: Audio-recording of C.S. Lewis: Episcopal Radio-TV Foundation (1958)
– Storge: an essay on affectionate love by C. S. Lewis (1960)
– A Storgic Love Paradigm, by Yuko Minowa & Russell W. Belk (2018)
– AI tells which Greek love is synonymous with pairbonding (2024)
– English language qualities associated with the Greek Storge (2024)
– Which features do storge and agape have in common? (2024)
Family in Asia, versus family in the West (2024)

Romantic love versus family love (Amore vs Storge)

The Western model of romantic love prioritizes the romantic couple – mother and father (or mom and new romantic boyfriend) over the family unit. Family becomes secondary and subordinate to the romantic couple. This is one of the leading causes for why Western families have collapsed,  with romantic love acting as primary agent for disintegration.

Ironically, some conservatives feel they can address the decay by adding a few romantic date nights into the marriage and thereby increase the health of the family. This remedy sounds more like drinking poison to remove the very same poison already causing the sickness.

By way of contrast we can see that in traditional cultures the parental couple were subsumed within the family nexus, taking their identity and pride from the family, and serving its needs as their own. Everyone was important: mother, father, children, relatives, and especially grandparents. Today, family is subsumed within the romantic model, if indeed the wider family is considered at all.

This situation was well described by the Twitter/X contributor below who shares his first-hand experience of Chinese and Western cultures:



Another person commented about “the ongoing fallacy of setting up ones familial foundations upon Romantic Love (of the young couple starting a family) versus the classic (now mainly Eastern world view) of having the newly weds become part of the greater familial tapestry, involving extended family.”

The above observations can be summarised by the following graphic contrasting Eastern and Western priorities, which will serve as summary to this article:

Peter Pan Wives Menace To Marriage

Until Peter Pan Syndrome came to be applied exclusively to males, it used to be applied equally to females, as in the article below from the Aberdeen Press and Journal – Friday 04 November 1938. This article describes women who ‘play’ at being helpless in order to garner sympathies and labor from others.

NB. For the sake of accuracy, the female behavior being described here is not strictly that of the Peter Pan archetype (which Jungians refer to as the puer/puella aeternus). The behavior is associated with what the Jungians refer to as the ‘child archetype’ – which is a more helpless presentation than the resourceful youth Peter Pan.

Christian Churches Conflating Romantic Chivalry with Agape

Many Christian Churches have become temples to romantic love, which began as a worship of women in medieval times by poets and singers who celebrated romantic chivalry, a practice which elevated women to a quasi-divine status. This non-Christian tradition has gained a stranglehold over modern Church culture, to the extent that traditional Christian teachings are becoming obscured in its wake. The following illustrate some of the phenomena that have resulted:

Church and clergy often champion values of romantic love

Which encourages women to conflate Jesus’ love with romantic chivalry

Following the mold of Sir Lancelot, women have made Jesus into Sir Lovealot.

And pressures men to conflate God’s love with romantic chivalry

We are seeing women go on romantic dates with Jesus.

And a growth in the genre of “Christian” romance novels

Also the rise of Christian wives requesting romantic “date nights” from husbands


And finally congregations are singing romantic love songs to God, making evangelical Church worship sound like a Justin Bieber concert encouraging people to “fall in love with, have a love affair with, or become passionate or intimate with Jesus,” while characterizing God as a romantic ravisher of our souls.

Romantic chivalry is a love that’s woman-centered, whereas agape is neighbor centered; Love thy neighbour as thyself. The battle between these two different loves is the crux of a war within the modern Church, because it ultimately confuses and conflates these two contrary motives. To put the problem simply: romantic gynocentrism is not agape.

Does any of this tell us why intelligent men are leaving the Church, and why new men are not coming into it? As always, I invite you be the judge.

‘Shield of Parade’ representing chivalrous love (15th century)

The ‘Shield of Parade‘ is a 15th century artifact depicting a scene of chivalric love, which is currently housed in the medieval gallery of the British Museum.

The shield’s front panel portrays a youthful knight clad in battle armor. Genuflecting in a gesture of servitude toward the woman he loves, he grips a pole axe in one hand, while a sheathed sword rests at his side. Nearby, his helmet and gauntlets lie discarded. The figure of Death emerges from behind and gazes malevolently while reaching out to take the knight.

On the left side of the shield a noble lady stands projecting an air of arrogance. She is adorned in opulent attire, her gilded finery catching the light. A long hennin hat graces her head, its trailing silk veil draped own her back. Curiously, her facial expression conveys detachment, making her seem somewhat cold or dismissive to the dramatic scene unfolding before her.

A scroll of text floats above the knights head with the words “vous ou la mort,” which translates as “you or death” in French. These words reveal that this scene is one of  chivalric love, in which the knight would happily die proving his love than to dishonor his lady and lose her love by his poor performances in battle.

Feature image: British Museum ©