The Sub says it all.
That depends on what you mean by “love”. Note that a typical dictionary will have dozens of definitions, and there are many specialized definitions in all the philosophical disciplines, like science and theology. Certain kinds of love, such as sexual attraction or maternal adoration, are clearly manifestations of synaptic discharges. Other kinds, like agape, are harder to peg and possibly represent a gestalt that is outside traditional materialist dogma.
What I mean by “love” is just that…
The feeling of being in love…not lust… and certainly no “self” love.
Maybe. There was a report in New Scientist on this topic, but it doesn’t seem to be online anymore. Here’s a second hand account:
You’ve identified two things that you are not talking about, but the equivocation remains. Perhaps if you would offer a cogent definition of “love”.
Can someone help Lib on what it’s like to be in “love”
He needs a definition.
The term “infatuation” is probably better. It’s the “falling in love” part, rather than the “being in love”.
Ah. Infatuation. Yes, that has a chemical explanation. Phenylethylamine facilitates the production of dopamine and norepinephrine, and voila, you have a crush on someone.
You know the rules, Lib. Cite?
Hint to Libertarian: I think you’ll have more success if you spend an hour searching on “oxytocin”.
I think Al Pacino said it best in Devil’s Advocate:
Al was wrong. I can eat enough chocolate to put me into a diabetic coma and it’s no where near the feeling of infatuation.
Perhaps, but chemically you might be no different from when you are madly in love…
So while a chemical condition (e.g. having large amounts of certain neurotransmitters in your brain), is probably necessary, it is not sufficient for infatuation. You need someone to be in love with, for example.
I would say that there remains a gap between the chemical explanation (even if neccessary and sufficient) and the experience of being in love. So I guess it boils down to what you mean by explanation.
Ask a hundred people here what love is & get a hundred answers. I don’t think anyone agrees & just as well, I don’t think anyone knows what it is…
How about endorphins for a chemical basis? love=endorphins (opiates of the brain)
Of course it is chemically explained.
Hormones. If you cut off your testicles now, you would never consider once getting married or setteling down.
Makes love seem a bit superficial…
The truth will occasionally ruin the commonly accepted image.
So you define “love” as being purely sex-driven?
This is why Libertarian keeps asking for a definition. Lust, love, infatuation, most people can’t tell the difference. 
So the question at least has to be specific enough to be answerable.
There are surely chemical, and also biological, reasons for love. What they are, I have no idea.
In the case of “falling in love” as opposed to love of other family members there is a large element of lust involved. I can’t believe that anyone who has ever been in love with a member of their target sex group can’t tell the difference between those feelings and the love you feel for Grandma Betty.
No human emotion can be “chemically explained”. This is because all human emotions are more than just a chemical state. We have physiological reactions and states, but the actual emotion is as much cultural and self-semantic as it is physiological.
When I was much younger, I used to “fall in love” at the drop of a hat. I still undergo the same physiological reaction to meeting women as often as I did at that age, but I no longer “fall in love” with them. Instead, I recognize their more-than-mere-physical attractiveness and don’t let it rule me.
I’m sufficiently self-aware to realize that a recognition of attractiveness need not be followed up by fatuous behavior. I still “feel” the same thing, but I no longer “feel” the same thing. My interpretation of the chemical state has changed, and thus the emotion associated with the chemical state has changed. The chemistry has not changed, but the emotion has.
I don’t know about this. Tax benefits, shared employee health insurance…there’s still plenty of reasons to get married!