Patriotism: Mundane and Ethical
Patriotism: Mundane and Ethical

Summary/Abstract: In the first part of the paper I demarcate patriotism from nationalism and lay out a typology of patriotism, distinguishing its types or facets in terms of the object of patriotic loyalty, reasons for it, its motive, strength, dominant vicarious feeling, and moral import. Under the last heading, I distinguish between mundane patriotism, which seeks to promote the worldly interests of the patria—its political stability and power, economic strength, cultural vibrancy, etc.—and a distinctively ethical type of patriotism, which is concerned with the country’s moral identity and integrity. While mundane patriotism is devoid of positive moral significance, the distinctively ethical type of patriotism is, under certain fairly common circumstances, a stance we ought to adopt. In the second part, I offer several arguments for this claim, and assess their weight and scope.

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