Filozofska istraživanja, Vol. 32 No. 2, 2012.
Original scientific paper
Gjuro Arnold on Patriotism
Ivana Skuhala Karasman
; Institute of Philosophy, Zagreb
Abstract
Gjuro Arnold (1853–1941), a Croatian philosopher, poet and pedagogue, discusses some topics on patriotism in his short work Ethics and History (Etika i poviest), published in Zagreb in 1879 and in his speech “Unique Croatian folk culture” (“Jedinstvena hrvatska narodna kultura”) from 1909. His position on patriotism Arnold builds on the ideas of Herbert Spencer (1820– 1903), a British philosopher and sociologist, and also a sharp critic of patriotism. In the paper I will present Spencer’s understanding of patriotism. For Arnold patriotism is an emotion of pride which an individual has for the unity to which he belongs. Further, he argues that an excessive patriotism awakes vanity and tendency for groundless interference with other person’s rights. The consequence of this is either a victory or a defeat. On the other hand, a weak patriotism provokes egotistic wishes from other sides.
Keywords
Gjuro Arnold; patriotism; Herbert Spencer
Hrčak ID:
97180
URI
Publication date:
25.10.2012.
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