For Love of Country?: A New Democracy Forum on the Limits of Patriotism
After the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, American flags appeared everywhere. Is patriotism a good response at a time of national crisis? What does it mean for us to think of ourselves as a nation first?\ With our connections to the world growing stronger and more vital than ever, Martha C. Nussbaum argues that we should distrust conventional patriotism as parochial and instead see ourselves first of all as "citizens of the world." Sixteen prominent writers and...
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Edited by Joshua Cohen for Boston Review For Love of Country is a rare forum: a real conversation among some of our most prominent intellectuals about an issue of urgent public importance. At the center of this lively and utterly readable debate book is Martha Nussbaumís passionate argument against patriotism. At a time when our connections and obligations to the rest of the world grow only stronger, we should reject patriotism as a parochial ideal, she says, and instead see ourselves first of all as "citizens of the world." Fifteen writers and thinkers respond to Nussbaum's piece in short, hard-hitting, often brilliant essays, acknowledging the power of her argument, but often defending patriotisms and other local commitments with an eloquence equal to Nussbaum's. We hear from an astonishing range of writers from Robert Pinsky to Cornel West to Gertrude Himmelfarb to Sissela Bok. This is contemporary American philosophy at its most relevant and readable. At a time when debates about crises in Bosnia or Somalia are dominated by politicians and military leaders, here are the voices of philosophers and poets, literary scholars and historians. A book of surprising insights and diversity, For Love of Country is especially written for a wide audience and is sure to spark debate. NEW DEMOCRACY FORUM A series of short paperback originals exploring creative solutions to our most urgent national concerns. The series editors (for Boston Review), Joshua Cohen and Joel Rogers, aim to foster politically engaged, intellectually honest, and morally serious debate about fundamental issues-both on and off the agenda of conventional politics.
Editor's PrefaceIntroductionPatriotism and Cosmopolitanism3Cosmopolitan Patriots21Constitutional Faith30From Part to Whole38University in Culture45Revisioning Cosmopolitanism53Limits of Loyalty61Democratic Citizenship66The Illusions of Cosmopolitanism72Don't Neglect the Little Platoons78Eros Against Esperanto85Must we Choose Between Patriotism and Universal Reason?91The Difficulty of Imaging Other People98Humanity and Citizenship111Why Democracy Needs Patriotism119Neither Patriotism Nor Cosmopolitanism122Spheres of Affection125Reply131Notes145Contributors153
