Lecture note, lectures MACINTYRE: IS PATRIOTISM A VIRTUE? PDF

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Download Lecture note, lectures MACINTYRE: IS PATRIOTISM A VIRTUE? PDF

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Nov 19

MACINTYRE: IS PATRIOTISM A VIRTUE?                             

Patriotism- what is it and is it a virtue? It’s a love of your own country-loyalty that only those who possess that nationality can exhibit- like marriage, marital fidelity These loyalty links- historical background NOT patriotism- not an allegiance to an abstract/ general idea of civilization Anybody could express support like ideal of freedom in American Constitutional value but if you’re not American then you cannot be an American patriot NOT mindless loyalty, not “my country, right or wrong” Loyalty COULD be just an emotional attachment- based on knowing and valuing merits “mother-” or “father-” land analogy difficult to sustain What is a virtue? Courage, wisdom, empathy, patience Character trait of individuals- judge them if they don’t have it Is PATRIOTISM a virtue? Relationship between patriotism and morality MacIntyre thinks it’s a virtue, but not whole-heartedly Dangers as well- without patriotism you won’t be a FULL member of your country Some people think it’s a vice- to be a patriot requires you to favor your countryfavoritism is not moral SOFT POSITION: one could be a good universalist and a patriot morally permissible to be a patriot- people who like their country = better associations We can come up with rules of morality that would be open to any rational person Morality itself is not a particular interest- it is a neutral framework Third aspect of liberality- rules neutral with respect to the good- people disagree and that’s okay Liberal morality says that we can come up with rules of justice that can be neutral about morality Rules apply equally to individuals considered equal- no individual is more valuable than another Rules of morality apply to individuals universally ^^ central positions of liberal morality (apply to all societies in this way) Particularistic morality (against this^^) Morality is constituted by shared understanding of historical communities Diff historical communities will evolve morality in different ways Goods are particularized, not universalizable Not all social goods are universalizable Lots of what we care about it particular Individual’s moral agency- some people wouldn’t be moral without pressures from community

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Why are people motivated to be moral? If we are deprived of our community, we will not flourish as moral beings...