A Critical Analysis Of Patriotism As An Ethical Concept PDF Download

Excerpt from A Critical Analysis of Patriotism as an Ethical Concept Patriotism is a live issue. It is almost impossible for any one to be neutral about it. All men seem to feel that the issue involved is one that touches the fundamental interests of their lives. Patriotism is an important concept. But not all men take the same stand regarding patriotism. There is hot disagreement upon the question of its moral value. Some champion it as one of the noblest of all virtues; others spurn it as one of the basest. Therefore it is highly desirable to arrive at a fair judgment of the ethical value of patriotism. One of the chief reasons for the radical disagreement about the morality of patriotism is that there are widely different assumptions as to its nature. It is a sentiment of manifold varieties, and the word patriotism may carry quite different implications to different minds. The first necessary step, then, before one can pass an ethical judgment upon it, is to find out what the core of patriotism is. This dissertation begins, therefore, by undertaking to determine the nature of patriotism, and with no more of a clue in hand than the one that it is "the love of country" tries, by an inductive investigation of what has actually been called patriotism, to bring together the important facts in which patriotism is manifested. Hence, while the main purpose of the essay is an ethical one, a large portion of it is given to inductive analysis. The first three parts are mainly analytical. The fourth part endeavors to unify in a central concept the data gathered together in the preceding parts, and, in the light of that concept and all the facts, to evaluate patriotism as an ethical ideal. It may be noted here that the first three parts are printed as they were in the typewritten form presented to Yale University as a thesis, but that part four has undergone much rearrangement and revision. Chapter eight has been largely rewritten; chapter nine is entirely new; and what here appears as chapter ten has been somewhat changed. Acknowledgement is hereby made to the members of the faculty of the department of philosophy in Yale University for many helpful criticisms. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.