Juan Berasaluce Professor Margarida September 8th 2015 ENG 1700 Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism. Patriotism is a way of thinking in which every individual recognize as their homeland and defends it with pride. Nowadays, individuals are proud of their country, especially living in a foreign country where everything is different from home. The patriotism is seeking to cultivate respect and love that we owe to the country by honest values, work and personal contribution to the common good. The patriotism is to be proud of being born in a resource-rich or country of great cultural tradition. In this essay “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism”, the author Martha Nussbaum explain how the individuals react when has the necessity to defense their country. …show more content…
The text aims to reflect on the theme of the relationship between patriotism and cosmopolitanism, based on the positions of the philosopher Martha Nussbaum. For the author, the relationship must be shown in the field of the educational while forming the new city, which, in the case of the American education field is affected by high rates of provincialism and ignorance of other cultures and societies. The cosmopolitan city is presented in its reference to the philosophical tradition, particularly its cynical and stoic origin. In the context of these schools of thought, local and global citizenship, should be articulated, thinks Nussbaum; Today must likewise act locally and think globally. In his essay Martha C. Nussbaum offers four arguments for education to which she calls "cosmopolitan education." From the phrase, "I am a citizen of the world"; in order to refuse to be defined by its local origin, Martha C.
Nussbaum argues that thinking as a world citizen is a form of exile of patriotism’ comfortable and easy sentimentality for and consider our lifestyles from the point of view of justice. To do this we must recognize humanity wherever you are and to grant full reason and moral capacity and our loyalty and respect. The author emphasizes the value of the cosmopolitan stance, because people recognized what is important to them: their aspirations to justice and reasoning ability. However, to be a citizen of the world does one not have to give up local identifications. Always think of ourselves as beings surrounded by a series of concentric circles around which is the greatest of all, that of humanity and the task of the cosmopolitan will "attract these circles to the center" for all humanity is as familiar to us as our compatriots. For the author; this means that American students can still be seen themselves as being defined in part by their particular affections, but they should also learn to recognize humanity. Thus would the world citizenship at the core of civic education. The four arguments offered by Martha C. Nussbaum to be carried out this cosmopolitan civic education are: "The cosmopolitan education enables us to learn more about ourselves": Martha C. Nussbaum argues that ignorance of about US the rest of the world is so overwhelming that in many ways she is also ignorant about herself. In her opinion, if the cosmopolitan education project does not undertake the risk of believing that the options we know are the only ones and that, somehow, they are "normal and natural" for all human beings we
run. "We moved solving problems that require international cooperation". Since the destinies of nations are interrelated in terms of their survival, we need a comprehensive dialogue that takes into account a great knowledge about their societies, for this, the cosmopolitan education would provide the information needed for this kind of dialogue. "We recognize moral obligations to the rest of the world that are real and which would otherwise go unnoticed." If you believe that all human beings have certain inalienable rights alike, we have a moral obligation to understand what we may be required to do with and for the world. So to make policy decisions one should take into seriously consider the rights of other human beings link wing freedom, life and the pursuit of happiness; so we must work to acquire knowledge to establish a dialogue about these rights. "We developed solid and coherent arguments based on distinctions that are willing to defend." According to Martha C. Nussbaum, American patriotism it is very close to "patriotism". According to the author, in the US, it is believed to be due respect humanity as such, but actually Americans, deserve special respect. According to the author the same values that unite urging US forces to cross borders of ethnicity, class, gender and race, lose their strength when beyond the borders of the nation. Value ago that we live fully in commitment and citizens and promote the respect we owe one our nation. On several occasions takes time to reflect on the path that will our lives: work, family and friends are the continual necessary and indispensable measure ourselves ; But rarely, if ever , we think of acting as our citizens, which means being born in a country and what responsibility is clearly of this made . The patriotism is seeking to cultivate respect and love that we owe to the country by honest values our work and personal contribution to the common good. Perhaps for many, the patriot is to be proud of being born in a resource-rich country or country of great cultural tradition; for others it means carrying the national colors at a sporting event or a trip abroad; some more feel only belong to the country on the date of a national celebration and only as a pretext for a party with friends. It is true that patriotism is questioned whether live or an occasional and therefore passing feeling. Waking consciousness seems to appear when disasters, wars, and other extraordinary events highlighting the patriotism and solidarity, but everything passes and return to normal routines. You cannot expect the appearance of calamities to realize our capabilities, and work willingly for others
“Transnational communities and selves emerge when people from different cultural groups meet and live in shared spaces” (Fischer, 155-156). The American nation today could easily be seen as a transnational America, thus, this essay shows that Bourne’s idea of empowering all citizens. Especially immigrants,that had led to the America that is known and loved today. Although, empowerment of citizens is important, so is domination, which is why Roosevelt’s ideas of strong patriotism during the Progressive Era are not completely lost
In Nussbaum’s article I have a problem with the unrealistic goal of universal cosmopolitanism, as it is impossible for an individual to think of themself fully a citizen of the world. A sense of home identification will always linger as no one feels welcome or is welcomed in every nation or community on earth. It is impossible to make a patriotic person non patriotic as no one person has had the exact same
“Nationalism(n.) - loyalty or devotion to a nation, especially an attitude, feeling, or belief characterize by a sense of national consciousness” (The War of 1812 and the Rise of Nationalism 1). Nationalism was a crucial part of America’s success during the War of 1812; nationalism was reflected in the post-war period through increased national pride, emphasis on national issues, increase in power and scope of the national government, and a growing sense of American identity (The War of 1812 and the Rise of Nationalism 1). The first to arise which was the driving force behind American victories against the British was nationalism. This nationalism was expressed in four ways; patriotism, political, economical and cultural. American patriotism
Nationalism is a political, economic and social ideology, doctrine and practice describing the “advocacy of or support for the interests of one’s own nation”, especially above the interests of other outside nations, individuals, and regions (“Nationalism”). It is a conscious state of mind where individuals believe their duty and loyalty is to the nation-state. It believes that a nation is the most crucial aspect for human social life because it gives a nation a sense of unity by promoting the shared interests and identities of the individuals such as language, race, religion etc. (“Nationalism”). Therefore, the aim of nationalism is to preserve and promote the nation’s culture as opposed to other cultures. Politically, the goal is gaining and
Simon Keller argues in his essay "Patriotism as Bad Faith" that patriotism is not a virtue but it is actually a vice. Keller begins by splitting the views on this philosophical debate into three different representations. The first being the "communitarian patriot", where patriotism is not only a valued virtue to someone's self but that it is actually an essential virtue. The second representation is a radical contradiction of the first, known as the "hard universalist. The hard Universalist sees patriotism as a vice instead of being any type of positive virtue. They think that everyone should be valued the same, and that there should be no favoritism. The third representation is the idea of the first two combined, to form what is called the "soft universalist." This view is understood as patriotism is allowed, and is not seen as a vice, but also that one has an obligation to the rest of the world, almost to try and treat them as a loyalty that you would have towards your own country. (p.112).
Patriotism refers to an individual’s action and supportive attitudes to the motherland. It focuses on people’s spirit of sacrifice to defend the motherland independence and justice maintenance. The story of “Village” by Estela Portillo tells how a Mexican American soldier, Rico, fighting in the war, and when he received an order to destroy the village, his morals are not compromised. It could be seen that Rico is patriotic because he loves people, he has dauntless spirits in the face of danger and he is reason enough to make the right decision.
We are all citizens of this world, but few people recognize this. More people group themselves with the nation they grew up in causing segregation within the overall world community. In Martha Nussbaum’s piece titled “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism,” she describes her philosophy behind citizen’s world vs nationality mindset, and the benefits that could come from being more involved as a world citizen. Nussbaum defined a cosmopolitan as one whose allegiance is to the worldwide community rather than simply the nation of their origin. Nussbaum’s use of logos and ethos throughout her piece strongly expressed how powerfully she feels towards this change.
Nationalism is extreme loyalty and devotion to one particular nation, and many Americans are nationalistic about their country. But even though they are loyal to America, defining what it means to be a true American is tricky. Being American is one complex thing, but the concept of being American can not be fully grasped. What it means to be American may in fact be one of the biggest mysteries of all time. Indeed, discovering what it means to be a true American could possibly take an entire lifetime. One thing, however about all true Americans is certain: we are all alike in that each one of us is different from the Americans in important ways. We are diverse in our backgrounds, races, and religions. Nevertheless, we are exactly identical in the we feel toward our country, even though we express our pride in a million different ways.
As I began my research for this essay, it became clearly obvious that there is no consensus on the roots of nations. From Gellner to Smith, a million little points in time and space can be credited for the creation of a nation, which in itself carries various meanings and connotations. Believing that both modernists, who interpret nationalism as being associated with industrial economy and centralized authority, and primordialists, who argue nations are ancient and natural phenomena, make valid points, I have opted to adhere to Michael Mann’s explanation that the structure of nations ‘had multiple causes and stages cascading on top of each other in unexpected and unfortunate ways. They were contingent because different causal chains, each of which we can trace and explain quite well, came together in a way that we cannot explain in terms of either of them, yet which proved timely for the outcome’ (Mann 2012: 3). Nevertheless, despite the range of explanations for nationalism, one concept is reoccurring. Humans, either in their local, state or international societies, are driven by power, and those who have the ability to force their decisions upon others yield power. Regardless of the fact that colonialism and imperialism are no longer recognized as current practices, international society still exists under the umbrella of neo-colonial influences, of which globalization is a product of.
Nationalism has played a crucial role in world history over the past centuries. It continues to do so today. For many, nationalism is indelibly associated with some of the worst aspects of modern history, such as the destructive confidence of the Napoleon’s army and the murderous pride of Nazi Germany. Large numbers of people, descent in their hearts, have carried out unbelievable atrocities for no better reason than their nation required them to. Authoritarian and totalitarian regime have crushed dissent, eliminated opposition, and trampled on civil liberties in the name of the nation.
Cosmopolitanism is a Western concept that summarizes the needs of social agents to understand political and cultural values, larger than his home country on a global level. Cosmopolitanism is an ancient Greek word which means citizens of the world. In recent years cosmopolitanism has got a considerable importance and scholars of cosmopolitan thinking about the mutual responsibilities are arising in the global and International World. Cosmopolitanism promotes positive treatment towards differences, having great desires to construct a broad devotion and peaceful global community of citizens who should be able to communicate across cultural, social boundaries and universal solidarity.
...reorientation of education to make it more cosmopolitan is not an easy job. Politically, making more education-oriented cosmopolitan human will confront us to a group of human which are nationalists, who see education as a process to produce patriotic citizens. People will be very skeptical toward education reorientation. For those, the framework of cosmopolitan education will change vision and attitudes to a very normative way and make it impossible to measure and standardize the result of education processes. Actually, it is not difficult to respond to the various criticisms of the cosmopolitan education. Politically, there is no contradiction between the idea of cosmopolitanism and nationalism. Cosmopolitanism and nationalism are not two opposite polar in a continuum (Fine, 2007). The vision of cosmopolitanism can live side by side with the spirit of nationalism.
The economic and political changes that occurred across Europe in the nineteenth century made it inevitable for the inhabitants of Palestine and the Jews of Europe to become nationalists. Through the emergence of nationalism, we see the reversal of old practices of empire. Cultures of nationalism developed as the world adopted the the idea that nation’s strength rested in unity and loyalty of its people. To secure unity and loyalty, the concept of a common identity was invented. This concept however, proved to be capable of causing divisions as well. While the spread of cultures of nationalism proved unstoppable, starting a nationalist movement was not. Nationalist movements emerge, when the pressures from existing nations push for the construction
With the purpose of better understanding these links, it is worth defining the category that is directly related to the nationalism. What it is known about the national identity is that it is a sense of belonging to one state or nation. This appearance can refer to the subjective feeling one demonstrates to the group of people, regardless of one’s citizenship status. As a result, it is often viewed as an awareness of differences, so that one is able to distinguish between “they” and “we”. Moreover, the demonstration of one’s national identity often positively interpreted as a patriotism, which could be defined by using such terms as a national pride.
The globe has shrunk and become a petite living environment, as people from diverse ethnic groups can easily interact with each other without any regards to places, race, color, religion, wealth, and gender orientation. Globalization and modernization have played an important role in bringing people from all around the world together, which seem to decrease the size of the planet earth. In this essay to avoid confusion, globalization and global citizens are both used interchangeably. A global citizen is when someone can easily connects with another ethical communities and adapts to the norms and values of that environment. The more (we) human can unite and settle on the side our values to recognize other communities; the world will be safer. If we can come as one to help the most vulnerable people and fight against hunger, violence, and wars happiness will be ubiquitous around us. However, not everybody agrees with this globalization concept, some people think the idea of being cosmopolitan will reduce and destroy social customs. In the other hand, there are those who think that would promote progress and harmony between people.