The legitimacy of nationalism
Lukacs' position on nationalism (see the Nov. 18 post) strikes me as somehow awry, though perhaps this is because his exposition is difficult to understand.
"The [nationalistic] love for one's people is natural, but it is also categorical; it is less charitable and less deeply human than the [patriotic] love for one's country
There may be some confusion here over what "love" refers to. It seems to be true that there is a basic psychological difference between love of the other and love of the self, whether individual or collective. From the little I have read about Lutheranism, I have the impression that Martin Luther was greatly struck by this distinction, and consequently ended up by condemning anything done merely for the sake of oneself. He seems to have transformed the principle "love others as yourself" into "love others and hate yourself". (In his mature view, one ought not to defend oneself against criminal attack, for example, except insofar as one is acting on behalf of the general welfare by doing so.) It sounds as though Lukacs may be thinking along similar lines. But if we are to distinguish self-love from the love of another in this way, we must then keep in mind that both types of "love" are necessary. The higher, charitable love of our country will probably only take us so far.
Update (12/14): Paul Cella has just posted a long article on the nature of (American) patriotism here (h/t: Eunomia).
Labels: Nationalism
posted by Mr. Spog | 12:15 a.m.
2 Comments:
Interesting post. I wish I had something intelligent to add, but don't. You have given me something to think about.
There is no difference in natural love and human love. There is no difference in national [i.e ethnic group altruism] and charity. Human love is of a single not a multiple source origin. Darwin demonstrates this in his Descent of Man.
As man advances in civilisation, and small tribes are united into larger communities, the simplest reason would tell each individual that he ought to extend his social instincts and sympathies to all the members of the same nation, though personally unknown to him.
This point being once reached, there is only an artificial barrier to prevent his sympathies extending to the men of all nations and races.
Extending sympathies or altruism or charitable love to 'all members of the same nation' is enhanced through natural selection; it enhances reproductive fitness and thus survival. Once it is evolved and re-enforced by public opinion, there is little, according to Darwin, that stops charitable love or altruism being extended to the other.
An example can be found by comparing the the Western reaction to the 'other' versus the primitive reaction of the Sentinelese tribesman.
ONE of the world's last Stone Age tribes has murdered two fishermen whose boat drifted on to a desert island in the Indian Ocean.
The Sentinelese, thought to number between 50 and 200, have rebuffed all contact with the modern world, firing a shower of arrows at anyone who comes within range.
They are believed to be the last pre-Neolithic tribe in the world to remain isolated and appear to have survived the 2004 Asian tsunami.
The men killed, Sunder Raj, 48, and Pandit Tiwari, 52, were fishing illegally for mud crabs off North Sentinel Island, a speck of land in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands archipelago.
Fellow fishermen said they dropped anchor for the night on January 25 but fell into a deep sleep, probably helped by large amounts of alcohol. During the night their anchor, a rock tied to a rope, failed to hold their open-topped boat against the currents and they drifted towards the island
Yet in Tenerife, tourists sunning themselves in the Canary Islands came to the rescue of 88 immigrants from Africa.
"It was totally spontaneous," a local police officer, Javier Melián, told El País newspaper yesterday. "Every immigrant must have had four or five people looking after them. The beach was full of tourists."
This despite the fact that Europe's dwindling populations may be overrun by Africans over the next century. And Africans, like those who populate the Paris riots, or who perpetrate black-on-white rape by a factor of ten, will most probably be less charitable to their guileless hosts.
Thus it appears that nationalism, in the civilised world, will resurrect itself only when the threat from an out group is severe.
Which explains Luther's transformation. In his 1523 essay That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew, he wrote,
When we are inclined to boast of our position [as Christians] we should remember that we are but Gentiles, while the Jews are of the lineage of Christ. We are aliens and in-laws; they are blood relatives, cousins, and brothers of our Lord. Therefore, if one is to boast of flesh and blood the Jews are actually nearer to Christ than we are...If we really want to help them, we must be guided in our dealings with them not by papal law but by the law of Christian love. We must receive them cordially, and permit them to trade and work with us, that they may have occasion and opportunity to associate with us, hear our Christian teaching, and witness our Christian life. If some of them should prove stiff-necked, what of it? After all, we ourselves are not all good Christians either. [15]
By 1543 his view had changed significantly;
We are at fault in not slaying them. Rather we allow them to live freely in our midst despite all their murdering, cursing, blaspheming, lying, and defaming; we protect and shield their synagogues, houses, life, and property. In this way we make them lazy and secure and encourage them to fleece us boldly of our money and goods, as well as to mock and deride us, with a view to finally overcoming us, killing us all for such a great sin, and robbing us of all our property (as they daily pray and hope). Now tell me whether they do not have every reason to be the enemies of us accursed Goyim, to curse us and to strive for our final, complete, and eternal ruin! [19]
Post a Comment
<< Home