Now, to attribute an absolute value to a being not in relation to what he does, to his acts, but simply because he is, beceuse of the simple fact of his Sein, his Being – is to love him. Hence we can also say that Love is what is realized in and by the ancient Family. And since Love does not depend on the acts, on the activity of the loved one, it cannot be ended by his very death. By loving man in his inaction, one considers him as if he were dead. Hence death can change nothing in the Love, in the value attributed in and by the Family. And that is why Love and the worship of the dead have their place within the pagan Family.

Alexandre Kojève, Introduction to the Reading of Hegel (Cornell University Press, 1980) p. 61