The Four Loves is C.S. Lewis’s 1960 book about four kinds of love.
The book develops ideas first presented in a series of BBC radio talks. Lewis discusses four Greek terms or categories: storge, associated with affection; philia, associated with friendship; eros, associated with romantic or sexual love; and agape, associated with charitable or self-giving love. The English title uses “loves” in the plural because Lewis distinguishes these forms rather than treating love as one simple emotion.
The Four Loves was published in 1960, near the end of Lewis’s life. It is an essay-length work of Christian reflection, not a novel or a formal academic study of ancient Greek vocabulary. Lewis uses ordinary examples and theological argument to examine both the strengths and dangers of human attachment.
A common mix-up is to identify Mere Christianity as the book containing this four-part structure. Mere Christianity addresses core Christian beliefs, while The Four Loves focuses specifically on human relationships and the ways love can become possessive or transformed.