Today I realised there are two metaphysical views about love that I hadn't previously been distinguishing clearly:

1. Fictionalism about the love relation
This is the view that there is no such relation as the is in love with relation. Although we talk as if there were such a relation, this talk can be regarded as in some ways like a fiction: literally false, but perhaps useful for certain purposes.

2. Love nihilism
This is the view that nobody is in love with anybody.

While fictionalism about the love relation entails love nihilism, the converse is not true: love nihilism does not entail fictionalism about the love relation. (Or at least, this second entailment fails provided that relations can exist uninstantiated.)

So these two views should be distinguished.

Next post, I promise to talk about some more positive views!