Setting The Limits of Patriotism

In many societies, patriotism is a must-have value. It is seen as a quality that everyone tends to have. In politics, when one refers to patriotism, it is meant not to be discussed; referring to patriotism is referring to something good according to common sense. However, History teaches that patriotism can rapidly and easily slip toward nationalism and militarism and become a reason to hate foreigners. In light of this observation, philosophers have studied the moral grounds of patriotism.
One can wonder what the object of patriotism is and whether this object is morally acceptable: is it a country whatever that country is standing for? Some will argue that being a patriot is not about questioning your country; it is only following the motto “my country, right or wrong” and blindly loving it; others will say that patriotism should be avoided for this very reason. But a patriot can also favor the welfare of his country by attempting to make it respect moral standards and it seems that to make patriotism morally acceptable, a country has to keep up to certain high moral principles that give a satisfying reason for a patriot to support it, so is the object of patriotism a valuable country? Or is the object of patriotism simply a political ideal? Does the object of patriotism intrinsically entail a moral obligation toward itself?
Alasdair MacIntyre (1994) argues for the first option. He looks at patriotism through a communitarian point of view; he considers that patriotism is morally not only acceptable but also central to any moral system. For him, patriotism is legitimate because one must build one’s moral values within a certain community. Others favor a more moderate view of patriotism. It is the case of Stephen Nathanson (1989)...

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