The decline of marriage in contemporary society has obviously not eliminated the issue of faithfulness in love. Subtle distinctions are made between true feelings and physical passion. Can’t we be faithful nowadays and still be inconstant, whereas in the past they locked themselves into a soulless faithfulness? Far from being outdated, the stakes are as current as can be, as they involve nothing less than the very “being” of those concerned.
Can we still promise to be true? And can we love without such a promise? How can we make a commitment that doesn’t depend exclusively on ourselves? Avoiding clichés,  philosopher Michela Marzano shows the paradoxes that arise when faithfulness is seen as a duty or an ideal, and the aporia in which we enclose ourselves when we pretend to be able to live without it. By the end of this path, we begin to see faithfulness as a demanding presence, for oneself and the other, as a place of welcome and sharing. And the mystery of love is enlightened. Love rising to the challenge of being laid bare.

Can faithfulness still be an ideal for today’s couples? Philosopher Michela Marzano examines the question seriously, avoiding the dual trap of the return of yesteryear’s superficial faithfulness and of its contemporary dissociation with love. True fidelity, the one that leads to love, is revealed as a presence and no longer an ideal.