RT Article
T1 What can Examining the Psychology of Nationalism Tell Us About Our Prospects for Aiming at the Cosmopolitan Vision?
JF Ethical theory and moral practice
VO 11
IS 2
SP 165
OP 179
A1 Brock, Gillian
A1 Atkinson, Quentin D.
LA English
PB Springer Science + Business Media B. V
YR 2008
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1785694618
AB Opponents of cosmopolitanism often dismiss the position on the grounds that cosmopolitan proposals are completely unrealistic and that they fly in the face of our human nature. We have deep psychological needs that are satisfied by national identification and so all cosmopolitan projects are doomed, or so it is argued. In this essay we examine the psychological grounds claimed to support the importance of nationalism to our wellbeing. We argue that the alleged human needs that nationalism is said to satisfy are: (i) either more complex than initially one might think or (ii) do not necessarily provide very strong grounds for the theses advocated by nationalists or (iii) can be well met in alternate ways than through national identification. Moreover, commitment to cosmopolitanism is not antithetical to meeting these needs: rather, more cosmopolitan worldviews can do quite well in meeting the needs of interest. Moreover, we argue that since nationalism is a fluid and socially constructed phenomenon, quite open to the influence of other factors, the current evidence suggests that central aspects of cosmopolitanism are quite feasible and realistic.
K1 Ethnocentrism
K1 Psychology
K1 Cosmopolitanism
K1 Nationalism
K1 Psychology of nationalism
DO 10.1007/s10677-007-9087-1