"Coincidentally I came across an old note to myself tonight about this very topic, and I think the conclusion I've now come to upon reading my old thoughts is that love and fear are opposite corners of a two-dimensional spectrum of emotions, while hate and tolerance are on the other pair of opposite corners. I already use such a spectrum in my philosophy book (why I'm digging through old notes to myself) in this diagram here:"

Doesnt that imply that you can love and hate something simultaneously? If so, you want at the same time to get closer and move away from it? Does that makes sense?

Thinking about it, i came to the impression that, instead of "hate" and "tolerance", maybe "activity" and "passivity" would better describe the horizontal corners of the diagram, since you can like something but not adopt any attittude towards it or like it and adopt attittudes about it. Same goes for fear, wich maybe could give the following perspective about a new definition of hate: hate is fear combined with activity.

Im only an enthusiast. What i do to guide my studies is to have a look at different universities curriculums and read first the most common names, down to the less common ones. About what the previous response said on reading thematically, i also try to follow one author's complete bibliography chronologically, since the understanding of one single book is frequently tied to the previous or developed better on the next.