thesis statement of love is a fallacy

Love Is A Fallacy Analysis Essay

In the reading “Love is a Fallacy”, Max Shulman writes about a character named Max who attempts to have a relationship with a girl by trading his roommate a racoon coat for the girl in exchange. Max Shulman’s piece is neither anti-women nor anti- men and is, therefore, meant to be irony. This piece is rather ironic because of fallacies appear throughout the piece, the main character Max has fallacies in his thinking, and the character Polly speaks of the fallacies in Max’s reasoning.

Out of all the characters, there are only three characters, these three have at least one fallacy in their reasoning. The piece is mostly ironic because there are fallacies found throughout the work. It is not that difficult to see a fallacy. For example, Petey wanted a racoon coat because he said it was a popular thing to do. Petey had a fallacy called appealing to popularity or bandwagon. Not only is Petey having fallacies, Max is also. It is ironic that the individual teaching fallacies is creating fallacies himself and not entirely knowing that.

There are also other ironies that could be found throughout the piece. For example, Max was trying to change Polly into something she was not, he was trying to make her more intelligent than she actually is. It is ironic because she was able to use her knowledge against Max in the end of the piece. It is not really predictable that Polly would use the knowledge she learned against Max. The piece is neither anti- women or anti-women and mainly uses irony to teach the readers about fallacies. These fallacies stand out well in the presence of irony that may entertain the reader.

Reading a short story that contains information about fallacies is a much more interactive way of learning fallacies than learning fallacies from plain text that only provides definitions. Although Max appears to be teaching Polly about fallacies, Max has fallacies in his thinking. He says Petey is “dumb as an ox”, which is the fallacy of name calling. Max is a student in law school and has observed how successful lawyers are married to beautiful women and he believes Polly fits in that category of beautiful women.

Max is appealing to popularity, mostly the popularity of successful lawyers. Max wants to guide her to intelligence. Guiding her to intelligence seems to be a fallacy called wishful thinking because it is not very likely that one person can make an individual more intelligent. Max again used the fallacy of name calling when he called Polly a beautiful dumb girl. This fallacy discredits any intelligence of Polly. The lack of intelligence changes are perspective of Polly by including her in the category of people who cannot think logically along with Petey.

This characteristic of unintelligence we see aids in the how unexpected it was that Polly had used the knowledge against Max. Max has a fallacy called “false analogy” when he uses a weak analogy to support his reasoning that he is able to guide Polly to intelligence when he says it is “easier to make a beautiful dumb girl smarter than to make an ugly smart girl beautiful”. The analogy is weak. The significant part that expresses the most irony is the end of the piece where Polly shows how much she learned about fallacies and expresses how Max’s reasonings are indeed fallacies.

First, Max says he and Polly are well matched after spending five evenings. Polly says that the statement Max made was a hasty generalization. It is a hasty generalization because Max is clearly jumping to conclusions when it was only five dates. Another example is when Polly expresses that Max had the fallacy “Hypothesis Contrary to fact”. Later, Max gets frustrated that Polly has been using his knowledge of fallacies against him and also gets furiated about how Polly is going steady with Petey. There Max also had an attack on Petey by calling him a list, a cheat, and a rat.

As a result, Polly expressed that Max had a fallacy called “Poisoning the Well”. The biggest part that was the most ironic is at the ending when Max asked for a logical reason on why Holly wanted to go steady with Petey Bellows because she stated it was because of the racoon coat Petey had. Holly had the bandwagon fallacy because she appealed to the popularity of the racoon coat like how Petey appealed to its popularity. Max did not realize he had fallacies. It is either he did not know he had fallacies or he was hypocritical and did not know that Polly would recognize the fallacies.

It is ironic that Max was being hypocritical when he had fallacies himself. This irony is most likely helpful to the reader because it could remind the reader that fallacies may be around in our experiences even though we may not notice them. In the end of the story, the irony is on Polly when she decides to be with Petey because he has a racoon coat. Just like Petey, Polly was appealing to popularity. In “Love is a Fallacy”, Shulman writes about Max who wants a relationship with a girl by trading his roommate a racoon coat for the girl in exchange.

Max Shulman’s piece is neither anti-women nor anti-men and is, therefore, meant to be irony. This piece is rather ironic because of fallacies appear throughout the piece, the main character Max has fallacies in his thinking, and the character Polly speaks of the fallacies in Max’s reasoning. Out of all the characters, there are only three characters, these three have at least one fallacy in their reasoning. Irony is throughout the piece and is used to have interactive way for readers to learn about fallacies.

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Love is a Fallacy | Summary & Analysis

Summary of love is a fallacy by max shulman.

Love is a Fallacy  by Max Shulman is a  witty and satirical short story that offers a humorous exploration of the clash between logical reasoning and the unpredictable nature of human emotions.  Through its characters and plot, the story effectively critiques the notion of reducing complex human interactions to mere logical equations.

Love is a Fallacy | Summary

One day, the narrator becomes infatuated with a girl named  Polly Espy . He views her as  an attractive and desirable partner, but he also notices that she is interested in Petey . The narrator uses his logical skills to concoct a plan:  he offers to trade Petey his raccoon coat, which is a fashionable item, for Petey’s girlfriend, Polly.  The narrator explains his plan to Petey, using logical reasoning to persuade him that the trade would be beneficial for both parties.  He lays out his arguments in a syllogism: Polly is beautiful, beautiful people should be with beautiful people, and the narrator is beautiful (in his own opinion). Thus, the narrator concludes, that he should be with Polly.

However, Petey introduces an unexpected twist to the situation.  He reveals that Polly desires the raccoon coat, and he wishes to give it to her as a gift.  The narrator realizes that his logical plan has been foiled by the unpredictable emotions of Polly and Petey.  The story concludes with a playful and ironic tone, as the narrator reflects on the fallacy of his own reasoning and the complex nature of human emotions . He acknowledges that logic cannot always account for matters of the heart.

Love is a Fallacy | Analysis 

“Love is a Fallacy” is a satirical story that humorously highlights the limitations of pure logic and reasoning when it comes to matters of love and human relationships. 

The protagonist’s infatuation with Polly Espy  introduces the main conflict of the story. Polly, though attractive, proves to be an enigma that defies the protagonist’s attempts to fit her into his logical framework.  The story plays with the age-old concept of love being irrational and unpredictable, as Polly’s interest in Petey contradicts the protagonist’s calculated expectations.

In its conclusion, t he story maintains a lighthearted tone, embracing the irony of the protagonist’s failed plan.  The final lines reflect the protagonist’s self-awareness, as he humorously acknowledges that love does not always adhere to logical principles. This conclusion underlines the story’s central message: that human emotions and relationships cannot be neatly categorized or predicted through mere logical deductions.

Love is a Fallacy | Theme

The story plays with stereotypes and assumptions about people based on superficial traits.  The protagonist’s assessment of Polly and Petey’s characters solely based on their appearance leads to misguided conclusions.  This theme underscores the importance of understanding individuals beyond surface-level judgments.

Love is a Fallacy | Character Sketch 

The protagonist (narrator), petey bellows.

Petey is the narrator’s roommate and serves as a f oil to the protagonist’s intellectual arrogance.  He is depicted as naive, simple-minded, and easily swayed by the protagonist’s logical arguments. Despite his lack of sophistication,  Petey possesses a genuine and unaffected nature.  His unexpected decision to gift the raccoon coat to Polly showcases his genuine care for her and his willingness to act based on emotions rather than calculated reasoning.

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Explicit Examples of Logical Fallacies in Max Shulman's "Love is a Fallacy"

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Stylistic Analysis of Love is a Fallacy

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If “Love Is a Fallacy,” Are the “Loves” or Romantic Relationships Portrayed in the Story Logical or Illogical (Fallacious)? Essay

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Introduction

Comparison of the “love is a fallacy” and the “the gifts of magi”, works cited.

There has been a lot of debate on the existence of “real” love (Sidney 24). Proponents have maintained that real or true love exists while opponents have rubbished such claims. However, recent research seems to suggest the existence of true love. Many dictionaries define “love” as an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment to something or someone (Sidney 23).

The definitions do not offer any logical explanation as to why individuals in love behave the way the do. Many sources only describe it as a strong emotional feeling. Indeed, many fallacies that are observed in any love confession make it difficult for one to describe love as being logical. Love is merely emotional and fallacious feeling when analyzed from a logical point of view.

This paper mainly seeks to compare and contrast two kinds of “love” shown in two texts, “love is a fallacy” and “the gift of magi” (Shulman 45).

Many novels, movies and soaps that portray deep love scenes are very popular among young people, especially those yearning for love or experiencing problems with their personal lives. These films and text materials often formulate an idealized feeling of love that is able to stand up against temptation and other obstacles that call for sheer sacrifice. It’s funny that everyone who watches these films or reads such texts never doubts the existence of such love.

In fact, the world is currently witnessing many relationships and marriages that failed because many people are yearning for the idealized love they find in texts or see on screens. The idealized love in the stories is often engineered in a way that it captures the readers/ viewers’ imagination to the point of evoking strong emotional feelings. It’s amazing how a person’s logical capacity diminishes when facing a strong emotional situation.

For instance, people who read fiction books and those who watch movies know too well that nothing real is happening but they are nevertheless carried away deep into the imagination of the writers or actors. It’s not logical to strongly react to something you know too well is unreal. Women tend to cry often when they see sorrowful scenes in the movies or feel envious towards other women in the soaps who they see as leading better love lives.

No one decides to be moved or not by such stories, it just happens. Once in a while one can remember that what he/she sees or reads is just a fiction and thus reacts in a different way. The strong love in the movies, novels, soap operas is often used as a marketing tool to gain more readers to buy the books or more viewers glued to the TV screens catching up on every episode.

The worst effect created by these stories is their ability to make people aspire for such love.

In the real world, “real” or true love is controlled by many dynamic factors which cannot be captured in the movies or stories (Shulman 34). In movies or stories, the main characters who are portrayed as feeling a true love for each other are usually good looking and successful people. In one instance, the woman might be from a disadvantaged background but is nevertheless beautiful.

The man has to be always handsome and successful. In the real world there are many contributing factors other than just beauty and success. There are many instances where love grows between people of diverse backgrounds and cultures.

For instance, a well groomed woman from a God fearing family easily falls in love with a drug addict or gangster and resists all attempts by her family to end the relationships. Love in the real world does not require sacrifice to flourish. It’s more linked to the feeling that people evoke in their loved ones. Many lovers do not expect too much from their partners.

The purpose of this paper is to compare “love” as it is portrayed in two stories, “The gifts of Magi” and “Love is a fallacy”. (Sidney 12) The “Gift of Magi” is a short story that was written by O. Henry. In the story, Jim and his wife Della are poor, but they are sincerely in love with each other and each of them has a possession which they are proud of (Sidney 56).

Della has a beautiful long hair, while her husband Jim has a golden watch that he inherited from his father and grandfather. On the Christmas Eve, both of them become desperate to get a gift for the other, but they have no money. Della sells her hair and gets a platinum chain for Jim’s watch (Sidney 35). On the other hand, Jim sells his golden watch and buys a set of expensive combs for Della. In the end, all the presents are useless but this shows how far they can go to express love for each other (Sidney 57).

This story depicts true love through sheer sacrifice. Della sacrifices her only possession, the long flowing hair to get a gift for Jim, while Jim sells a golden watch that has been passed to him from his father and grandfather.

“Love is a fallacy” and “the gifts of Magi” do not have any romantic similarities (Shulman 20). The stories are set up differently with one portraying love as being sincere and true, while the other portraying it as being a fallacy. Thus, at this stage the paper will mainly focus on the differences between the two texts.

The main difference between the two is the fact that “love is a fallacy” is built around a theme that seems to be hell bent on proving the non existence of “real love” (Shulman 4). On the other hand, “the gifts of magi” indicates that love is real and sincere (Sidney 5). For instance, in the story “love is a fallacy”, the narrator is fond of a beautiful girl Polly, his roommate, and wants her to be his future wife, but his is concerned about her level of thinking.

Therefore, he decides to take her through logic lessons without even having an idea whether she will meet his expectations. He rides on the fact that he is a smart guy and therefore Polly will definitely fall for him. The logic he teaches her works against him as she is able to describe a logical fallacy to everything he says as an emotional expression to show how much he loves her.

The story “the gifts of Magi” is laced with many emotional expressions that underscore the love that exists between Della and Jim (Sidney 12). However, this story does not portray love from logical perspective and thus it doesn’t affect the reaction of each party. Inasmuch as such expressions are rejected by Polly after taking the logic lessons, they work well for Della and Jim (Shulman 30).

The story “love is a fallacy” does not depict love with the kind of seriousness that is seen in the “Gift of Magi” (Shulman 8). “Love is a fallacy” can quickly pass as a comic story that is intended to get the reader laughing rather than being immersed in love like emotions (Shulman 24).

The story shows an illogical love as the narrator is smart and can offer Polly a better life, but she decides to stay with Peter because he has a raccoon coat (Shulman 30). The story revolves around typical campus life but it is spiced up to appear witty. “The gifts of Magi” is so sincere that it has been adopted by various Christian communities to emphasize the need for giving presents during Christmas (Sidney 12).

This paper mainly sought to compare and contrast two kinds of “love” represented in two texts, “love is a fallacy” and “the gifts of magi” (Sidney 12). It further sought to identify whether love is logical or fallacious and whether the love portrayed in stories and films is real or idealistic.

It has been identified that love is emotional and, in most cases a fallacious. The love portrayed in stories and films is always idealistic but nevertheless evokes emotions in the reader and viewer.

The two stories analyzed do not have any similarities, and as far as love is concerned they are set differently. “Love is a fallacy” emphasizes on the portrayal love as illogical, while “the gift of magi” shows love to be sincere and true (Sidney 12).

Shulman, Max. Guided Tour of Campus Humor. New York: Hanover House. 1955. Print.

Sidney, William. The Gifts of the Magi. New York: Dramatists Play Service.1984. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2018, November 6). If “Love Is a Fallacy,” Are the “Loves” or Romantic Relationships Portrayed in the Story Logical or Illogical (Fallacious)? https://ivypanda.com/essays/if-love-is-a-fallacy-are-the-loves-or-romantic-relationships-portrayed-in-the-story-logical-or-illogical-fallacious/

"If “Love Is a Fallacy,” Are the “Loves” or Romantic Relationships Portrayed in the Story Logical or Illogical (Fallacious)?" IvyPanda , 6 Nov. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/if-love-is-a-fallacy-are-the-loves-or-romantic-relationships-portrayed-in-the-story-logical-or-illogical-fallacious/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'If “Love Is a Fallacy,” Are the “Loves” or Romantic Relationships Portrayed in the Story Logical or Illogical (Fallacious)'. 6 November.

IvyPanda . 2018. "If “Love Is a Fallacy,” Are the “Loves” or Romantic Relationships Portrayed in the Story Logical or Illogical (Fallacious)?" November 6, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/if-love-is-a-fallacy-are-the-loves-or-romantic-relationships-portrayed-in-the-story-logical-or-illogical-fallacious/.

1. IvyPanda . "If “Love Is a Fallacy,” Are the “Loves” or Romantic Relationships Portrayed in the Story Logical or Illogical (Fallacious)?" November 6, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/if-love-is-a-fallacy-are-the-loves-or-romantic-relationships-portrayed-in-the-story-logical-or-illogical-fallacious/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "If “Love Is a Fallacy,” Are the “Loves” or Romantic Relationships Portrayed in the Story Logical or Illogical (Fallacious)?" November 6, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/if-love-is-a-fallacy-are-the-loves-or-romantic-relationships-portrayed-in-the-story-logical-or-illogical-fallacious/.

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Love Is A Fallacy Essay Examples

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Literature , Relationships , Emotions , Students , Thinking , Life , Song , Love

Words: 1200

Published: 12/23/2019

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Love is in one way a necessity for all human beings in order for them to feel a sense of belonging and that they are appreciated. This is the reason why falling in love can be instant, at first sight in some case. People who do not even recognize each other can spontaneously end up falling in love. However, love and feelings of appreciation are tough to do away with. This could be because of the emotional attachment that comes along with love. Some people take as long as ten years to get over their previous lovers. Love comes along with obsessions where lovers do outrageous things to secure their love or relationships. The play written by Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet is a case in point. The play is about two love birds, Juliet and Romeo, who despite their feuding family backgrounds, are extremely in love. The two had so much affection for each other that they did almost everything together. A closer look at love and one would realize the extreme ends of love. Love can lead to happiness but equally, it may lead to misery and sorrow. In fact, most love relationships end in bitterness and hatred. This is why love can be referred to as a fallacy, because it is at times an illusion that leads people to doing unrealistic things.

Juliet’s family is against her relationship with Romeo and does everything in their ability to stop the relationship. It is however subject to debate whether there is anything like love in real life. Love has so many links to fallacies, which many people treasure, believe and hold onto. Furthermore, love can be linked to fallacies because of its unpredictable nature. It is hard to tell the kind of person one falls in love with. Romeo and Juliet are so much in love that they ignore their backgrounds and family protests to go on with the relationship. This is the true definition of love. Romeo and Juliet have genuine feelings for one another and demonstrate this by standing by each other until the time of their demise. This proves that there are cases where love can be genuine as long as the couple understand one another and focus on their love life to make t successful. However, in the present world and in reality, genuine love is rarely witnessed since people tend to be focused more on their selfish interests rather than those of their partners.

Infatuation is a situation or feeling where people get attracted to one another mainly because of the looks. Many people mistake infatuation for love hence; making it a fallacy. This is because it is hard to predict the kind of person one falls in love with. Attraction towards someone just because of their looks is not love. In Bruno Mars’s song, “Grenade”, the singer suggests that he would sacrifice his life by catching a grenade for his lover. The song is basically not practical because everything the singer says he can do for his lover may lead to his demise. Jumping in front of a train and catching a grenade are not practical. This is a clear illustration that love is a fallacy and is never about reality. People who claim to be in love always make false and unreal statements that are entirely impractical. People should therefore control their emotions when dealing with matters of love in order to avoid disappointments.

Love is made up of fantasies that are inexistent in reality. The emotions of romance that people feel or tell one another are often inaccurate and inaccurate. People get false perceptions about love; raise their expectations so high that they end up in big disappointments. Other people believe that love natural and predetermined for everyone. Max Schulman, in his story, “Love is a Fallacy”, focuses on an individual who pursues a lady and explains the logic and reasons behind love. Ironically, the man is rejected at the end because of the lady’s reasons which are also logical. The story is fictitious but illustrates the reality about how logic can lead to dubious relationships and also avoid the same relationships.

It is evident that there are many people who believe in perfect relationships and love like that between Romeo and Juliet. People set their expectations high, giving logical and realistic reasons for their falling in love. However, acting on these reasons is impossible. These logical fallacies can be used to illustrate the fact that people have different perceptions about love. Some people use logic rather than emotions to woo potential partners. For instance, a law student whose perception is that lawyers need to marry gracious, beautiful and intelligent ladies identifies Poly as a potential wife. The student has further assumptions where he believes beautiful and gracious ladies can be transformed into intelligent people to make potential wives for lawyers. However, he believes intelligent women cannot be transformed to be beautiful. However, logic aside, love does not involve calculated moves; it is about physical and emotional feelings between two individuals.

Romeo fights everything that comes between him and his love, Juliet because they had passionately strong feelings for one another. Their love has nothing to do with logic; it is entirely based on emotional attachment and affection. Shakespeare could have exaggerated the love. There are very few such situations in reality where people love each other to an extent of dying for one another. It the story, Love is a Fallacy, the attraction of the law student to Polly is not emotional at all. Instead, he expects the girl to excite the emotions in him. On their date, he does not talk about romance or feelings; he talks about logic fallacies about love. The fallacies are not shared by Polly though since she seemed interested in a romantic relationship. The story of Love is a fallacy and that of Romeo and Juliet are two extreme ends where the two scenarios clash completely.

There are those people who believe that love is about emotions. They believe that love is something natural and that the fantasies about love can be realized if they meet the appropriate partners. The play, Romeo and Juliet, is written by Shakespeare in his attempt to show how people do unbelievable things in the name of love. In reality, love is a deception and a fantasy. It cannot be realized to some extents. People always use fallacies when making decisions on love matters because they are logical and realistic. For instance, in the story, Love is a Fallacy; the young law student has logical reasons when he tries to court Polly. Polly too has her own logical reasons when turning the student down. Therefore, love is skewed towards fallacies because fallacies exist in reality.

Works Cited

Fisher, Helen E. Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love. Illustrated. New York: Henry Hol, 2004. Roger, Friedman. Nash May Talk- Oscars in Last Leg of Voting. 13 March 2002. 25 June 2012. Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. n.d. Shulman, Max. Love is a Fallacy. 8th edition. Boston: Bedford St Martin, 2008.

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Logical fallacies (flawed logic) .

A logical fallacy is a fallacy in logic.  It is flawed logic.  In order to be convincing, using logic is important. Also, identifying the flaws in what someone is saying or writing is necessary for a critical analysis.

There are several logical fallacies:

• Sweeping generalization  – hasty generalization resulting in a conclusion that is not necessarily accurate;  inductive reasoning (going from a particular point to a universal rule) which is not thought through carefully.  There is one rotting apple in the bag; therefore, all the apples in the bag are rotting.
• Argument to the person (ad hominem)  – a statement raising questions about a person’s honesty or integrity who is taking a stand on an issue instead of making an argument on the issue itself.  The candidate opposing the widening of the road is being investigated for tax evasion instead of arguing that the widening of the road is needed to alleviate traffic on another road.
• Non sequitur  – a line of argument that really does follow logically.  The road should not be widened because the city park is nearby.  What does the park have to do with the widening of the road? This often happens when the argument is just not clearly expressed.  The road should not be widened because it will increase traffic on a street that many children cross to go to the city park.
• Either/or fallacy  – where only two choices are presented instead of giving all the options.  The county commissioners asked residents if they preferred a slight increase in taxes or charging a parking fee for on all county parks.
• Begging the question  – using the argument that something is true or accurate because it is true or accurate.
• Bandwagon argument  – Everyone else is doing it; therefore, you should
• Appeals  – use of language to sway the reader by appealing to emotions, logic, or ethics.
• Strawman fallacy  – where the opponent’s position is unfairly shown to be extreme or illogical in order to minimize its strength.
• False comparison fallacy  – where a position is compared to something which has some similarities but which is not comparable in a significant way resulting in a false negative comparison
• Faulty causality fallacy  – where an occurrence or event is represented to cause another occurrence or event because they happen at the same time or close in time
• Slippery slope fallacy  – where an action is represented to result in an adverse consequence even though that consequence is very remote.
• Red herring fallacy  – where an irrelevant issue or situation is raised to distract the argument from the point; changing the subject

Appeals are the use of language designed to create a particular type of response in the audience.  There are three types of appeals.

• emotional appeals  – presenting information designed to result in emotion.  Commercials typically have emotional appeals to make the audience feel in a certain way.  Perfume commercials showing couples; diaper commercials showing happy babies.  There are many speeches that used emotional appeals to show the audience the validity of the point being made.
• logical appeals  – presenting information designed to result in the audience thinking that what is being promoted is logical.  Examples include a commercial to refinance focuses on how money can be saved or an evaluation of the beneficial effects of a specific course of action such as more community participation or a source of revenue for a business.
• ethical appeals  – presenting information designed to result in the audience thinking that what is being promoted is the right thing such as contributing to organizations that help victims of natural disasters.

Some uses of appeals are thought to be unfair such as images of abused pets or hungry children.  People tend to react emotionally instead of evaluating whether the particular organization will make good use of donations.

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Max Shulman: Love is a Fallacy

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Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies

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Miguel Ángel Jordán

In Jane Austen's novels we can find varied characters, although all described with realism and coherence, according to the sociohistorical context of this author. Through these characters, Austen offers us a faithful reflection of the society of her time and highlights some of the social injustices that limited the lives of women of that period. This article offers a detailed analysis of Miss Bates, from the novel Emma, with which it is intended to demonstrate that this character, apparently secondary and ridiculed, is of great relevance for the development of the plot, and is also the resource that Austen uses to show the socioeconomic predetermination of her time. Before carrying out this analysis, first we will offer a section on the role of the spinsters in the works of Austen and in her historical context, and later, another section dedicated to the definition and characteristics of the flat characters. This theoretical framework will allow us to appreciate in more detail the historical realism with which Austen describes the character of Miss Bates and the relevance of that character for the development of the plot.

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The discovery of a letter from Frances Burney in a private collection provided the inspiration for this article

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Here, I draw on empirical work concerning the relation between the assessment of moral character, experiences that are evaluative (perceiving someone as attractive) and the perceptual representation of value. Studies show that people we judge to have good character we also evaluate to be more attractive. I argue that in these cases, evaluative perceptual experiences are penetrated by emotional experiences of esteem and inherit their contents. They thereby come to represent morally admirable people as having positive (often intrinsic) value.

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