NATIONALISM: A STUDY IN MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Abstract

Since its inception, philosophy has been a critical evaluation of our most general ideas and claims. Those ideas and claims may be about the world we live in, the knowledge we acquire, the conduct we follow, thinking we adopt, the pleasures we enjoy and institutions we build. The common thread that passes through the above mentioned objects of philosophical study is the generality of these concerns. If critical thinking constitutes the head of philosophy, generality of its concerns constitutes its heart. The abstract nature of philosophy is to be traced to the generality of its concerns. In an important sense, philosophy is an expression of a community's self-perception as well as its perception of the world around it in its most abstract form.